Adelaide Festival Centre Announces 2012 Season

Throughout the year, Adelaide Festival Centre Season 2012 will present over 200 performances and 45 individual shows encompassing music, theatre, dance, circus, 10 exhibitions, with 11 forums and workshops and seven films. It includes two world premieres, six Australian premieres and four performances exclusive to Adelaide. The program features artists and companies from across Australia and the globe including the UK, Russia, the United States, New Zealand, France, Croatia and China.

This year's season opens with the sensational musical A CHORUS LINE - a wonderful prelude to a very full cultural calendar including the Festival Centre's three flagship festivals; Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Adelaide International Guitar Festival and OzAsia Festival.

A Chorus Line is one of the most successful American musicals in Broadway history. The show premieres in Adelaide on New Year's Eve and this singular sensation and dazzling new production comes direct from Broadway, directed and re-staged by Baayork Lee, with Musical Supervisor Peter Casey, produced by Tim Lawson and TML Enterprises.

In 2012 a number of new initiatives have been introduced including Sessions, a summer music series in the Space Theatre which presents a luscious line up of world-wide beats and treats from 6 - 21 January. Music lovers can indulge in 19 acts over 10 nights in a diverse program featuring a variety of International and Australian artists with a well-represented Adelaide contingent. The music ranges from Mongolian rock through to jazz, pop, hip hop, funk, and flamenco. Highlights include So Frenchy So Chic favourites, Asa and Fefe, and Australia's first lady of song Wendy Matthews.

Children are welcomed all year with a plethora of family performances kicking off in January with the effervescent Angelina Ballerina. An English National Ballet Production this magical ballet by Royal New Zealand Ballet follows the well loved book and television series character Angelina As she prepares to audition for the prestigious Camembert Academy,17 - 21 January, Dunstan Playhouse.

Kids comedy duo List Operators for Kids! return to Adelaide with their new show More Fun Than a Wii, 24 - 28 January, Space Theatre. In association with Windmill Theatre, the Festival Centre presents Scotland's award-winning and internationally acclaimed Catherine Wheels Theatre Company, young children and their families are invited into the beautifully strange world of White, 31 January - 11 February, Space Theatre.

In another family treat, Patch Theatre Company who are celebrating 40 years in 2012 will present the 2011 Helpmann Award winning show Me and My Shadow , a gentle story of the fanciful escapades of a girl who finds a way to be friends with her shadow, 17 - 21 April, Space Theatre.

Following sell-out performances in 2007, BAFTA-award winning actress Miriam Margoyles returns to Australia for an encore national tour of her one-woman tour-de-force, Dickens' Women, 15 - 18 February.
Theatre lovers will again regale when Jonathan Pryce takes to the stage in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker, presented in conjunction with Adelaide Festival, 10 - 23 March, Her Majesty's Theatre. Audiences will learn about the life, legacy, inspiration and international impact of Albert Namatjira in Big hART's Namatjira by Scott Rankin with the inimitable Trevor Jamieson as Albert, this energetic celebration of a life fully lived also features third-generation artists from Namatjira's Hermannsburg community, 4 - 12 May, Her Majesty's Theatre.
The power of enduring friendship is explored when Biddies, a Christine Dunstan Production takes to the stage, featuring a stellar Australian cast, 14 - 18 August, Her Majesty's Theatre.
Dance aficionados will be more than satisfied with the diversity of dance on offer, including Adelaide‘s own internationally renowned dance company Australian Dance Theatre presenting the world premiere Proximity by Garry Stewart, 24 February - 3 March, also part of the Adelaide Festival. Adelaide Director/Choreographer Katrina Lazaroff presents an Australian Exclusive Involuntary, a performance where dancers interpret the impact, the emotion and the inherent comedy of technological change, 1 - 5 May, Space Theatre.

The Australian Ballet present the greatest love story ever told: Romeo & Juliet, as genius choreographer Graeme Murphy reinvents this classic with costumes designed by Australian fashion luminary Akira Isogawa, 25 - 30 May, Festival Theatre.

Bangarra Dance Theatre return with Terrain by acclaimed choreographer Frances Rings in a new work inspired by the landscape of one of our greatest natural wonders, it explores the metamorphosis and timeless beauty that is Lake Eyre, 29 - 1 September, Her Majesty's Theatre. Following their 2011 sell-out performance of A Festival of Russian Ballet, the Imperial Russian Ballet Company return with their presentation of the classic masterpiece Sleeping Beauty, 24 - 25 September, Festival Theatre.

For a fun night at the ballet direct from New York Les Ballets Trockadero De Monte Carlo make their triumphant return to Australia, 9 - 11 November, Her Majesty's Theatre.

Music is integral to Season 2012; audiences will be able to indulge in multiple performances, crossing genres from classics to contemporary. Celebrated soprano Greta Bradman performs Grace: A Journey of Hope an exquisite repertoire from her ARIA-nominated album Forest of Dreams (2010) and her most recent release Grace (2011), 20 April Dunstan Playhouse. Composer and pianist Richard Chew leads an ensemble of gifted South Australian musicians in I See Your Beating Heart: A Mother's Cantata, an intimate, beautiful and haunting work that explores a woman's journey into motherhood, 12 July, Space Theatre.

Circus fans will love Circa, a thoroughly new kind of circus from Brisbane. This extraordinary troupe have reinvented the circus art form, 16 - 19 May, Her Majesty's Theatre.

Once again the Adelaide Cabaret Festival opens with the Variety Gala Performance which offers a tantalizing insight into the program, 8 June, Festival Theatre. Patrons subscribing to four or more shows as part of Adelaide Festival Centre's 2012 Season have the opportunity to purchase the best seats to this opening night spectacular.

In a special event Adelaide International Guitar Festival welcomes two-time Grammy nominee and one of Australia's most respected musicians, Tommy Emmanuel with special guest Frank Vignola for one night only 5 August, Festival Theatre. Once again the Guitar Festival will present an outstanding selection of musicians. This year's program, which will be unveiled in April, features highly sought after soloist Ana Vidovic performing In Recital, 10 August, Dunstan Playhouse. In Australia for the first time, New York's charismatic Punch Brothers, who are at the frontier of a merging form of country-inspired chamber music, 10 August, Festival Theatre.

Spirit of Flamenco features an Australian Premiere performance by Jason McGuire (USA), as well as Florian Remus and the stars of Adelaide's nationally renowned flamenco scene. 12 August, Festival Theatre.

The Adelaide International Classical Guitar Competition attracts competitors from all over the world. The first prize-winner will receive $10,000 and a guitar made by revered South Australian luthier Jim Redgate. The competition final will be held on 11 August, Space Theatre.

OzAsia Festival 14 - 30 September features the Australian premiere and exclusive performance of Academy Award-winning composer Tan Dun with the Martial Arts Trilogy. The OzAsia Festival provides an exclusive opportunity to see one of the world's best conductors and film composers live with the formidable Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, 22 - 23 September, Festival Theatre.

In another new initiative, Dance on Film and Musicals on Film present a selection of our favourites from Tchaikosky's Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake to Prokofiev's Cinderella as well as 2011 Closer Productions Ruby Award winning Life in Movement. Musicals on Film features enduring classics My Fair Lady and Show Boat.

Completing a well-rounded season will be perennial favourite Christmas Proms, featuring some very special guests all under the master-stroke of Timothy Sexton and the big band sounds of his 24 piece Art Orchestra. 13 - 16 December, Her Majesty's Theatre.

Encouraging and developing new audiences has always been a priority for the Festival Centre and the GreenRoom program (16 - 30 year olds) and centrED program (primary and secondary students) will continue to give young people the opportunity to participate in a number of workshops, events and forums. The Student Tix program offers discounted tickets, enabling younger audiences to access the arts. This is supported through the generous donations of the Festival Centre's Foundation program.

Audiences also have the opportunity to be the first to experience pioneering performance fresh from the rehearsal room through inSPACE Development, this season features 10 developmental works. For updates and to reserve your seat email inspace@adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au

Our free forum series, In Conversation With returns, hosted by national arts presenter Fenella Kernebone. 2012 will feature a series of events to discuss and debate contemporary arts topics with a panel of industry experts. The series commences 11 March and tackles the subject of ‘The role of the political artist in society today', presented in conjunction with the Adelaide Festival 2012 and featuring Jonathan Pryce.

The season includes an extensive Exhibitions program, with major highlight Ngurratjuta Many Hands Art Centre's Namatjira, 14 April - 27 May, Artspace featuring original watercolours this unique exhibition guides audiences through spectacular Central Desert landscapes. The exhibition coincides with the iconic new Australian theatrical work Namatjira. The Performing Arts Collection will again present a diverse program of curated exhibitions 2012 including Hitchcock to Spock: Life and Times of our Dame Judith Anderson 1898 - 1992, 10 February - 4 June, Festival Theatre Foyer. Her ashes rest at the Festival Centre and this tribute to her life includes costumes, programs and photographs from the Dame Judith Anderson Collection.

Adelaide Festival Centre CEO & Artistic Director, Douglas Gautier, says
"We look forward to sharing the stage with you throughout 2012 at the heart of arts and entertainment in the city. The 2012 Season offers such a diverse range of arts experiences and this year patrons can extend their arts experience and learn from the creative's in an extensive program of forums and creative classes".

This year, when you subscribe to four or more shows, you can access discounted tickets to any show presented by Adelaide Festival Centre anytime during the year.

Subscribe before 26 November 2011 to go into the draw to win a VIP night for you and five friends at A Chorus Line.

To stay in touch with what's on at the Adelaide Festival Centre, patrons can sign up to receive the What's On email newsletter by logging onto the website www.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au

Tickets are now on sale through BASS 131 246 or www.bass.net.au

 

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