Adelaide Festival

Day 1 | Sunday 28 February
Arrive Adelaide
The tour begins at our Adelaide hotel, the Crowne Plaza, where we gather in the bar at 6.00pm for introductions and a welcome drink. We then enjoy dinner together at the hotel’s Koomo Restaurant, overlooking the city, with an opportunity to meet our fellow travellers and discuss the Festival program ahead. Overnight Adelaide (D)

Day 2 | Monday 1 March
Botanic Gardens & Writers’ Week
| Bluebeard’s Castle
Established in 1857, the Adelaide Botanic Garden is one of the city’s principal historic landscapes, combining Victorian garden design with botanical collections from around the world. Following our first morning talk at the hotel, we enjoy a guided walk through the gardens, taking in the historic Palm House, Bicentennial Conservatory and collections of native and exotic plants. The afternoon is then at leisure, with an opportunity to attend Adelaide Writers’ Week, where leading authors gather for talks and discussions in the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden, just a short walk from our hotel. In the evening, we take in our first Festival performance – Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle at the Festival Theatre, directed by Italian theatre-maker Romeo Castellucci. This psychologically charged one-act opera follows Judith as she opens the seven doors of Bluebeard’s castle, gradually uncovering his darkest secrets. Castellucci transforms the work into a symbolic exploration of memory and repression, replacing the castle with a shallow pool of reflective water illuminated by fire. Mezzo-soprano Christel Loetzsch performs Judith opposite baritone John Lundgren as Bluebeard, with Lidiya Yankovskaya conducting the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Overnight Adelaide (B)

Day 3 | Tuesday 2 March
Dance, Music & The Adelaide Festival
| Galaxia & Moon and Stars
Contemporary dance takes centre stage this morning with Galaxia, a new production by Townsville-based Dancenorth Australia. Directed by Amber Haines and Kyle Page, the work combines movement, music and technology beneath a vast canopy of interactive stars designed by New York theatrical pioneer Andrew Schneider, creating an immersive exploration of humanity’s place in the cosmos. Please note, this performance utilises loud sound levels and total black-out. Following the performance at the Space Theatre, we return to the hotel for a break for lunch before a special Q&A session with the Festival Director, Matthew Lutton OAM. We’ll hear firsthand about his creative vision and the evolving role of the Festival. In the evening, we travel to St Peter’s Cathedral for our next Festival performance – Moon and Stars, a choral concert bringing together Latvian Voices and the Adelaide Chamber Singers. Drawing on Latvian folk traditions and contemporary Australian compositions, the program features works by Ēriks Ešenvalds, Luke Byrne and Carl Crossin, culminating in the world premiere of a new commission by Latvian composer Laura Jēkabsone. Overnight Adelaide (B)

Day 4 | Wednesday 3 March
South Australian Museum
| The Rave and the Nightingale & Taverna Miresia
Writers’ Week has been a cornerstone of the city’s cultural calendar since 1960, bringing together leading Australian and international authors for discussions on literature, history, politics and contemporary society. We begin with a morning talk at our hotel, followed by time to attend further sessions in the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden. At midday, we walk to Elder Hall for The Rave and the Nightingale, a concert bringing together the Australian String Quartet and Melbourne Chamber Orchestra under Sophie Rowell. The program ranges from Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro and Beethoven’s Heiliger Dankgesang to contemporary works by Australian composers Anne Cawrse and Matthew Hindson. Following a break for lunch, we then continue to the South Australian Museum, one of the country’s leading cultural institutions. Our focus here is the Australian Aboriginal Cultures Gallery, where an Indigenous guide introduces the collection and its significance to Aboriginal communities across Australia. There is time to freshen up before our next Festival performance this evening – Taverna Miresia at the Dunstan Playhouse, directed by acclaimed Greek-Albanian theatre-maker Mario Banushi. Drawing on memories of his family’s Albanian restaurant, Banushi creates a wordless, visually rich exploration of family, grief and cultural identity through haunting tableaux, music and ritual. Overnight Adelaide (B)

Day 5 | Thursday 4 March
Art Gallery of South Australia
| Bach Organ Concertos
Established in 1881, the Art Gallery of South Australia holds one of the country’s most significant collections of Australian, European and Asian art. Following a morning talk at our hotel, we walk to the gallery for its special Festival exhibition, Dressed Up: Fashion & Photography 1850s to 1920s. Drawing on the gallery’s collections of historical South Australian dress and photography, the exhibition brings together period garments and portraits to reveal the craftsmanship of dressmakers, changing fashions and the ways clothing and photography reflected personal identity, family histories and social class. The afternoon is then set aside to attend further sessions at Writers’ Week before we reconvene in the evening for our next Festival performance at Adelaide Town Hall. Here we enjoy a concert by acclaimed Italian period-instrument ensemble il Pomo d’Oro, making its Australian debut at the Festival. Joined by the virtuoso organist Cameron Carpenter, the ensemble presents a program devoted to Johann Sebastian Bach’s organ concertos, preludes and fugues, bringing the composer’s intricate counterpoint and expressive range to life on the Town Hall’s grand organ. Overnight Adelaide (B)

Day 6 | Friday 5 March
Hans Heysen
| K.
One of Australia’s foremost landscape painters, Sir Hans Heysen is celebrated for his depictions of the South Australian countryside, particularly its monumental eucalyptus trees. Today we travel into the Adelaide Hills to visit The Cedars, his former home and studio near Hahndorf, where a curator-led tour introduces us to the artist’s life and work, including the studio of his daughter, Nora Heysen, herself a distinguished painter. Following lunch at The Cedars, we return to Adelaide for an afternoon at leisure. This evening, we attend K. at Her Majesty’s Theatre, a production by Berlin’s Berliner Ensemble directed by Barrie Kosky. Inspired by Franz Kafka’s ‘The Trial’, this theatrical adaptation draws on Yiddish vaudeville and combines music, dance, slapstick and dark humour to explore Josef K.’s struggle against an absurd and oppressive legal system. German actor Kathrin Wehlisch takes the central role in a visually inventive production that brings Kosky’s distinctive theatrical language to Kafka’s unsettling world. Overnight Adelaide (B, L)

Day 7 | Saturday 6 March
McLaren Vale & the Adelaide Hills
South Australia’s McLaren Vale is one of the country’s oldest wine-growing regions, with a viticultural history dating to the 1830s. This morning we travel south from Adelaide through the foothills of the Mount Lofty Ranges, stopping in the historic township of Clarendon, whose 19th-century stone buildings reflect the area’s early European settlement. After time to explore the village, we continue into McLaren Vale for a wine tasting and three-course lunch at The Currant Shed. Set among vineyards and orchards near McLaren Flat, the restaurant celebrates seasonal South Australian produce and the wines of the region. We return to Adelaide by the mid-afternoon, with the evening at leisure to enjoy the city’s restaurants or Festival atmosphere. Overnight Adelaide (B, L)

Day 8 | Sunday 7 March
Adelaide Fringe
| Burnout Paradise
Alongside the Adelaide Festival, the city also hosts the Adelaide Fringe, a more informal celebration of theatre, comedy, cabaret and street performance. Following our final morning talk at the hotel, we visit the Garden of Unearthly Delights in Rundle Park, where temporary venues, outdoor bars and entertainment offer a lively contrast to the Festival’s main program. After time to enjoy the atmosphere, we return to our hotel for an afternoon at leisure before reconvening in the early evening for our final Festival performance – Burnout Paradise, at the Space Theatre. Created by Australian performance collective Pony Cam, this inventive physical theatre production places four performers on treadmills as they attempt an increasingly chaotic series of tasks. Following the performance, we gather for a farewell dinner at Fugazzi Bar & Dining Room, bringing our time at the Festival to a close. Overnight Adelaide (B, D)

Day 9 | Monday 8 March
Depart Adelaide
The tour concludes after breakfast this morning. (B)