SYDNEY FESTIVAL 2015
8-26 Jan

The sounds of Bach and Messiaen are heightened by visuals of the Australian landscape. Belgian organist Bernard Foccroulle and groundbreaking Australian video artist Lynette Wallworth have joined forces to create the remarkable new audiovisual work Darkness and Light. Masterpieces for the organ, performed by Foccroulle on Sydney Town Hall’s magnificent grand organ, merge with Wallworth’s breathtaking visual world, for a mesmeric concert experience that brings new life to organ music.

When: Friday 9 January 8pm | Saturday 10 January 8pm
Where: Sydney Town Hall, George Street, Sydney
Tickets: $50-$65
Bookings: sydneyfestival.org.au/darkness
Image credit: Lynette Wallworth

Pianist Alain Franco (Sacre: Rite of Spring) returns to Sydney Festival with his most adventurous and audacious concert to date: a curated program of the 48 preludes and fugues of Bach’s key-spanning The Well-Tempered Clavier. Reordering Bach’s chronology, Franco allows the pieces to interact in unexpected and intriguing ways – like characters on an exquisite and exhilarating musical journey. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear this masterpiece made anew.

When: Sunday 18 January 4pm
Where: City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney
Tickets: $35-$65
Bookings: sydneyfestival.org.au/clavier
Image credit: Bernaded Dexters

Winner of five Academy Awards®, The Artist is a love letter to cinema in the style of old Hollywood by writer-director Michel Hazanavicius. The Artist stars Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo as a silent film star and a rising young actress who face the dawn of a new era of movies: the “talkies”. Performing will be the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ernst Van Tiel, alongside composer/pianist, Ludovic Bource. Don’t miss this chance to celebrate the golden age of cinema.

When: Friday 23 January 8pm | Saturday 24 January 2pm & 8pm
Where: Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, Sydney
Tickets: $45-$115
Bookings: sydneyfestival.org.au/artist
Image credit: Jean Claude Guilloux

Tireless explorers of the possibilities of the human voice, the 24-piece, Grammy Award-winning Latvian Radio Choir is one of the boldest and most boundary-defying chamber choirs in the world.
For their a cappella Sydney performances, the Latvian Radio Choir lend their virtuosic voices to a repertoire spanning centuries: pieces of prayerful intensity by Henry Purcell and Arvo Pärt; Immortal Bach, a bold reimagining of a Bach chorale; and the vigorous Zīles ziņa by Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks. The Latvian Radio Choir are conducted by Sigvards Kļava.

When: Friday 23 January 8pm | Saturday 24 January 2pm
Where: City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney
Tickets: $50-$65
Bookings: sydneyfestival.org.au/latvian
Photo credit: Janis Deinats