Iain Grandage launched his final program as the Director of the Perth Festival and his final outing will have the theme of Ngaangk.
Our star, the sun and also the Noongar term for mother, Ngaangk nourishes everyone and everything that grows and thrives on Noongar Boodjar.
Warm summer nights will light up from 9 February to 3 March in an exciting Festival program energised by diverse new voices and major stars. These include such extraordinary artists as
Angélique Kidjo, Akram Khan, Paul Kelly, Brooklyn Rider, Ludovico Einaudi, Sampha, Joan Jonas, Lonnie Holley, Jane Smiley, and brilliant companies from Belgium’s Ontroerend Goed to Broome’s Marrugeku.
The festival will begin with a world-premiere opera from Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse as they once again bring Noongar magic to the stage with Wundig wer Wilura, the Dreaming story of two star-crossed lovers whose souls are separated forever in two mountains facing each other outside York.
While the arts celebration will end in a twilight of togetherness at Supreme Court Gardens as the sun sets on Perth Festival 24 with a free event Under the Same Sun.
The closing concert will see leading Aboriginal musicians and international greats – among them Angélique Kidjo, Emma Donovan, Lior, Sampa The Great, Perth Moves, Mama Kin, Maatakitj, Paul Kelly, Flewnt, Shane Howard and Stephen Pigram – collaborate on songs that celebrate nature, nurture and shared futures under the same sun.
World music star Anegelique Kidjo is sure to be one of the 2024 festival’s big draw cards. The Beninese French singer has had an acclaimed career that has seen her collaborate with Bono, John Legend, Peter Gabriel, Carlos Santana, Philip Glass, Sting, Kelly Price, Brandford Marsalis, Ziggy Marley and many others.
Kidjo’s 1991 album Logozo has been proclaimed one of the greatest dance records of all time, and over her career she’s put out 18 albums of material.
Among her works is Ayé her 1994 album that was produced by David Z at Prince’s Paisley Park Studio, her tri of albums Oremi, Black Ivory Soul and Oyaya – which expore the African roots of music of the Americas, and Remain in Light her recreation of the classic Talking Heads album in an afro-beat style.
The festival will also art taking over unexpected spaces.
At Scarborough Beach audiences will don headphones and take in a vista teeming with activity as a hidden vocalist sings everyday interactions into epic significance in The Invisible Opera. Also in the northern suburbs, Nightwalks with Teenagers will see young people lead a friendly neighbourhood tour to discover our city’s streets with different eyes.
The empty food court at the Carilon Arcade in thew city centre will be opened up and transformed into the wondrous Wetland living plant installation by Linda Tegg with Vivienne Hansen. In the lightwell above, Rebecca Baumann’s Light Event will bathe audiences in iridescent light.
Music will be a big part of the festival. There will be a performance of acclaimed composer Jonathan Mills’ operatic adaption of Murray Bail’s Miles Frankin Award-winning Eucalyptus. Part Australian fairytale and part word-painting of the Australian bush,this world-premiere concert features an exceptional Australian cast performing with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and West Australian Opera Chorus.
Musical wonders continue at Perth Concert Hall with an extraordinarily diverse music program, beginning with the return of iconic Italian composer and pianist Ludovico Einaudi and ending with the great American string quartet Brooklyn Rider.
Performer and academic Dr Lou Bennett, formerly of Tiddas, and singer-songwriter Lior are joined by the Australian String Quartet for Ngapa William Cooper. TheAustralian Chamber Orchestra present their poetic synergy of film and music River, narrated on screen by acting great Willem Dafoe.
Paul Kelly will bring decades of boundless musical creativity to the stage for his show at Perth Concert Hall. On the closing weekend, charismatic Zambian performer Sampa The Great brings her crowd-jumping mix of rap, hip hop and R&B to the purpose-built stage under the stars at Supreme Court Gardens.
Two nights later, Mercury Prize-winning British singer-songwriter and producer Sampha hits the stage there with his intoxicating blend of pop, R&B, soul, jazz and west African music.
At The Rechabite in Northbridge there will be some of the most exciting music acts from across the globe – including Greentea Peng (UK), Kings of Convenience (Norway), Lonnie Holley, Moor Mother & Irreversible Entanglements (USA), Michael Rother & Friends (Germany), Cymande (UK), legendary Zambian sensation WITCH and an incredible array of Australian acts including Courtney Barnett and the First Nations artists in the returning Flewnt’s Block Party.
To check out everything in the massive program head to Perth Festival.
OIP Staff
You can support our work by subscribing to our Patreon
or contributing to our GoFundMe campaign.
