2023 Adelaide Festival's new all-women team comment on recently launched program

In a transition from six hugely successful Festivals curated by artistic directors Rachel Healy and Neil Armfield, there is a new, all-women team in the driving seat at Adelaide Festival: internationally-respected Artistic Director, Ruth Mackenzie CBE; renowned arts leader Kath M Mainland CBE (Chief Executive); and prominent publishing industry leader, Adelaide Writers' Week Director Louise Adler AM.

The 38th Adelaide Festival offers a total of 52 events in theatre, music, opera, dance, media and visual arts, including major festivals-within-the-festival Adelaide Writers’ Week, UKARIA Chamber Landscapes and WOMADelaide – over 17 days and nights from Friday 3rd to Sunday 19th March.

Featuring 11 world premieres, eight Australian premieres and 17 events presented exclusively in Adelaide, the Southern Hemisphere’s preeminent arts festival will again celebrate diversity and innovation.

Ruth Mackenzie, who will direct the 2024, 2025 and 2026 Adelaide Festivals, says about presenting the 2023 program “I see my role as enthusiastic spruiker for the program initiated by Neil and Rachel. The international quality of their festivals more than doubled audiences over the past six years and it leaves our new team well placed to continue their legacy.”

Commenting on the power of choirs Mackenzie notes “The human voice, that most ancient and resonant of musical instruments, is particularly powerful en masse – a collective voice, a communal experience. This has been a passion evident in Neil and Rachel’s programming, notably in this year’s flagship opera Messa da Requiem, which will feature 80 of Adelaide’s finest choristers.”

“And we’re also looking forward to the first-ever Australian visit – exclusive to Adelaide – by the oldest surviving boys’ choir in the world: Escolania de Montserrat, founded in the 13th Century.”

On the Opening and Closing events Mackenzie shares “Young women’s voices are the powerful force behind our free opening celebration in Elder Park: Spinifex Gum, with voices and harmonies of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls in Cairns-based choir Marliya – with the full orchestral forces of the wonderful Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.

“Air Play, a surreal, abstract, circus-like physical-theatre work by the USA’s Acrobuffos in the Festival Theatre, will close the Festival with a joyful, wordless visual poem incorporating flying umbrellas, balloons, snowflakes and the power of air that speaks to audiences of all ages.”

Chief Executive Kath M Mainland comments on the role of First Nations artists “Australian Indigenous voices are prominent across the range of art forms, headlining the opening night free concert in Elder Park with Spinifex Gum; enhancing the Festival Plaza with the installation/soundscape Unvanished; in music, with beautiful new song cycles wurukur djuanduk balag, composed by Dr Lou Bennett AM, and Ngapa William Cooper; didgeridoo virtuoso William Barton and rapper and musician BARKAA; and in dance, with Jurrungu Ngan-ga and Daniel Riley’s Tracker.”

Mackenzie adds “Eighteen countries will be contributing performances, artists and writers to our Festival. It’s particularly gratifying to see return visits by favourite global stars, such as Ivo Van Hove and Crystal Pite – with Australian premieres for their latest triumphs A Little Life which will be performed by Internationaal Theater Amsterdam and Revisor performed by Canada’s Kidd Pivot. The Art Gallery of South Australia’s exhibition of Andy Warhol’s photographic work is not only an Australian premiere, but absolutely exclusive to Adelaide.

“And I can’t imagine a more urgent and timely work than Dogs of Europe by Belarus Free Theatre, whose members are, ironically and tragically, political exiles from their country – as it becomes further enmeshed in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Possibly a glimpse into the future – not to be missed.”

Mainland shares “For 62 years it’s been a firm tradition of Adelaide Festival that the program is appealing and accessible to everyone – not just to arts aficionados but to audiences of all ages and walks of life. That’s our role as a South Australian arts institution and we always keep this firmly in mind when creating our programs.”

High quality free events in 2023 include the opening concert in Elder Park; major installations Unvanished and Lost Dogs Disco; top-drawer visual art exhibitions; and most Writers’ Week events featuring great international writers, from popular novelist Alexander McCall Smith to legendary food writer Claudia Roden.”

“Our Open House programs Tix for Next to Nix and Pay What You Can will again be available to assist benefit card-holders to attend a range of selected events.”

“Performances appealing to families and young people include the visual fantasy Air Play, Slingsby’s The River that Ran Uphill and Windmill’s quirky and challenging Hans and Gret.”

“And a new cultural initiative to be launched in 2023 is Create 4 Adelaide, in which young South Australians will vote on their top priorities for climate action, forming the basis for artwork to be created by young people across the state. This is a large-scale, year-long project encouraging young people to develop their creative skills and engage with local climate change priorities – resulting in digital and physical exhibitions presented in the 2024 Adelaide Festival.”

To view the 2023 program go to www.adelaidefestival.com.au/whats-on/