2024
Under the artistic direction of Ruth Mackenzie CBE, the 2024 Adelaide Festival (1–17 March) marked a bold new chapter in the Festival’s legacy, presenting a 17-day celebration of global creativity and community. With over 60 events spanning opera, theatre, dance, music and visual arts, the program welcomed both returning icons and rising stars, offering audiences a rich and diverse cultural experience.
The Festival opened with the world premiere of Baleen Moondjan by Stephen Page, staged at Glenelg Beach. This powerful dance-theatre work, inspired by First Nations storytelling and set among towering whale bones, captivated audiences with its fusion of choreography, live music and sunset spectacle.
A standout operatic highlight of the 2024 Festival was The Nightingale and Other Fables, a visually enchanting production by celebrated Canadian director Robert Lepage. This inventive staging of Stravinsky’s The Nightingale interwove fables from various cultures, blending opera, shadow puppetry and acrobatics in a magical underwater world. Performed partly in a water-filled orchestra pit, the production mesmerised audiences with its fusion of Eastern and Western storytelling traditions.
Another major highlight was Guuranda, a new commission by Narungga/Kaurna artist Jacob Boehme, which brought ancient Narungga stories to life through a multidisciplinary blend of theatre, song, puppetry and visual art.
The 2024 program also featured international luminaries such as Laurie Anderson, Barrie Kosky, and Marina Abramović, alongside acclaimed newcomers like Mario Banushi and Víkingur Ólafsson. The Threepenny Opera, directed by Thomas Ostermeier, brought Brecht and Weill’s classic to Her Majesty’s Theatre in a thrilling new production.
The final weekend of the Festival was marked by the deeply moving presence of Little Amal, the 3.5-metre-tall puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee girl who has become a global symbol of human rights. Making her Australian debut, Amal walked through Adelaide in a series of free public events that invited audiences to reflect on the experiences of displaced children.
Beloved Festival traditions returned, including Adelaide Writers’ Week, WOMADelaide, Chamber Landscapes at UKARIA, and the Daylight Express. A standout initiative was Create4Adelaide, a year-long project empowering young voices to make art responding to climate change and Floods of Fire, a two-year community collaboration with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.
The Festival’s expanded free program and new community-focused events reflected a commitment to accessibility, inclusion and reimagining what a 21st-century international arts festival can be.
Thank you for being part of Adelaide Festival 2024.