Adelaide Festival

Day 1 | Arrival | Performance I
Saturday 28 February
The tour begins in our Adelaide hotel at 5.00pm, where we meet in the bar for a welcome drink. Following brief introductions, we then enjoy a light dinner at a local restaurant before heading out together for our first Festival performance. Overnight Adelaide (D)

Performance details
Venue: To be advised
Program: To be advised

Day 2 | UKARIA Cultural Centre | Performance II
Sunday 1 March
We begin the morning with our first talk in the hotel, after which there is free time to explore the vibrant Adelaide Writers’ Week – Australia’s largest free literary festival located in the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden, a short walk from our hotel. In the afternoon we travel by coach to the UKARIA Cultural Centre, an intimate concert hall set amid the picturesque landscapes of the Adelaide Hills. Since its opening in 2015, UKARIA has earned a reputation as one of Australia’s foremost venues for chamber music, renowned for both its acoustics and idyllic surroundings. Here we’ll enjoy a concert in this remarkable setting before returning to Adelaide in the late afternoon. Overnight Adelaide (B)

Performance details
Venue: To be advised
Program: To be advised

Day 3 | Adelaide Festival | Performance III & IV
Monday 2 March
Today begins with a morning Festival performance, after which we gather for lunch at Osteria Oggi, an award-winning Italian restaurant in the heart of Adelaide, known for its contemporary take on traditional dishes and lively, convivial atmosphere. The afternoon is free to attend a Writers’ Week session or simply relax at leisure. In the evening, we reconvene to enjoy another Festival performance together. Overnight Adelaide (B, L)

Performance details
Venue: To be advised
Program: To be advised

Performance details
Venue: To be advised
Program: To be advised

Day 4 | Adelaide Festival | Performance V & VI
Tuesday 3 March
Our program today once again centres on the Adelaide Festival. After a leisurely morning, which includes a talk in our hotel, we attend a midday performance. The afternoon is free to delve further into Writers’ Week, with its stimulating program of international and Australian authors in conversation. In the evening, we gather again for another Festival performance. Overnight Adelaide (B)

Performance details
Venue: To be advised
Program: To be advised

Performance details
Venue: To be advised
Program: To be advised

Day 5 | Hans Heysen | Performance VII
Wednesday 4 March
This morning we travel by coach into the Adelaide Hills to visit The Cedars, the home and studio of renowned Australian painter Sir Hans Heysen and his daughter, artist Nora Heysen. Set amidst rolling countryside near the picturesque German village of Hahndorf, The Cedars preserves over 200 original works and offers one of the finest examples of an historic artist’s house-studio in Australia. A curator-led tour introduces us to the house, studios, and surrounding gardens, followed by a delightful High Tea at Cedars Kitchen. We return to Adelaide in the afternoon with time to relax and freshen up before tonight’s Festival performance at Elder Hall. Here, the Pygmalion choir and orchestra make their long awaited Australian debut in a residency exclusive to Adelaide Festival. Led by visionary founder and director Raphaël Pichon, the Ensemble Pygmalion will perform Rossi’s rediscovered baroque masterpiece, Orfeo. Highly sought after by Europe’s 17th-century tastemakers, Italian composer Luigi Rossi was commissioned to write the first-ever opera for the French court while in exile in Paris. The result, his Orfeo, boasts some of the Baroque’s most sublime and original writing, blending tragedy and comedy with remarkable poignancy. Overnight Adelaide (B, HT)

Performance details
Venue: Adelaide Town Hall
Program: Luigi Rossi’s Orfeo
Performer: Ensemble Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon

Day 6 | Indigenous Heritage | Performance VIII
Thursday 5 March
This morning we visit the South Australian Museum, one of the country’s most respected cultural institutions, renowned for its research and collections spanning natural history, anthropology and world cultures. Our focus is the Australian Aboriginal Cultures Gallery, which houses more than 3,000 artefacts from Central Australia and the Top End. Considered one of the finest collections of its kind anywhere in the world, the gallery showcases tools, ceremonial objects, bark paintings and material culture that speak to the richness and diversity of the world’s oldest continuous civilisation. We are guided through the collection by an Indigenous specialist, whose insights provide invaluable cultural and historical context. The afternoon is free to enjoy further sessions at Writers’ Week, before we reconvene in the evening for another Festival performance. Overnight Adelaide (B)

Performance details
Venue: To be advised
Program: To be advised

Day 7 | McLaren Vale | Performance IX
Friday 6 March
This morning we depart Adelaide by coach, taking a scenic route through the historic village of Clarendon before arriving in McLaren Vale, one of Australia’s most celebrated wine-growing regions, renowned for its rich Shiraz and innovative viticulture. We begin with a tasting at Shottesbrooke Cellar Door, sampling a selection of their award-winning wines, before continuing a short distance to The Currant Shed. Set amid vineyards and orchards, this acclaimed restaurant offers a relaxed lunch paired with regional wines in an idyllic rural setting. In the late afternoon, we return to Adelaide with time to freshen up at the hotel before this evening’s festival performance. Overnight Adelaide (B, L)

Performance details
Venue: To be advised
Program: To be advised

Day 8 | AGSA | Performance X
Saturday 7 March
After a final talk in our hotel this morning, we take a short walk to the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) for a visit to its special exhibition (program to be announced). The gallery is one of the country’s premier cultural institutions, home to more than 47,000 works spanning from ancient Rome to the present day. Here we enjoy the exhibition at our own pace, with time to explore the gallery’s rich holdings. The afternoon is then at leisure before we reconvene for our farewell dinner at Fugazzi, an acclaimed city restaurant offering bold, modern Italian cuisine crafted from seasonal South Australian produce. Following dinner, we walk together to the Festival Theatre for our final performance, Mary Said What She Said. In this powerful solo performance, international stage and screen star Isabelle Huppert embodies Mary, Queen of Scots in a mesmerising production directed by the late Robert Wilson. Written by novelist Darryl Pinckney, with a score by celebrated composer Ludovico Einaudi, the work plunges us into the psyche of Mary Stuart – a woman involved in some of the most notorious plots of her time, and a Queen exiled, isolated and misunderstood. After the performance, we return to the hotel and gather for a final drink in the bar to reflect on the week’s experiences. Overnight Adelaide (B, D)

Performance details
Venue: Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre
Program: Robert Wilson’s Mary Said What She Said
Performer: Isabelle Huppert

Day 9 | Departure
Sunday 8 March
The tour concludes after breakfast this morning. (B)