The Sydney Festival, a celebration of arts and culture, is held in Sydney each January.
The 2006 Sydney Festival ran for three weeks from January 7 to Australia Day, January 26, and featured local and international theatre, music, dance, multi-disciplinary and visual arts. Some festival events continued beyond January 26.
Highlights of the 2006 Sydney Festival included:
Dance and Physical Theatre
- Sylvie Guillem and George Piper Dance at Sydney Theatre from January 19 to 21.
- Chunky Move's I Want to Dance Better at Parties at the Sydney Opera House Playhouse from January 18 to 22, then at Parramatta Riverside Theatres on January 24 and 25.
Free Outdoor Events
- Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Terrance Simien in The Spirit of New Orleans at The Domain on Juanuary 14.
- Concert of Fire at Prince Alfred Park, Parramatta, on January 13, then at Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour, on January 15.
Music
- A three-concert series by Elvis Costello: with the Brodsky Quartet at City Recital Hall on January 20, with Steve Niece at State Theatre on January 22, and with the Sydney Symphony at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall on January 24 and 25.
- Portuguese singer Mariza at Parramatta Riverside Theatres on January 18, then at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall on January 20 and 21.
Plays
- The Chekhov International Theatre Festival production of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night performed in Russian with English surtitles at Theatre Royal from January 7 to 14.
- Rainpan 43's all wear bowlers at Lennox Theatre, Parramatta Riverside Theatres, from January 9 to 14, then at The Studio, Sydney Opera House, from January 16 to 21.
- James Thierree's Bright Abyss at Theatre Royal from January 18 to 29.
- Sydney group Urban Theatre Projects' Back Home performed in a Blacktown backyard from January 19 to 28. Buses ferry audiences from Parramatta Riverside Theatres.
- Teatr Piesn Kozla's Chronicles - A Lamentation at the Sydney Opera House Playhouse from January 20 to 25, then at Lennox Theatre, Parramatta Riverside Theatres, on January 27 and 28.
Visual Arts
- International artist Tony Oursler's Blue Invasion, a site-specific installation throughout Hyde Park North from January 7 to 24 after dark, free.
- Installation by Iranian-American artist Shirin Neshat at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from December 16 to January 29 (closed Christmas Day), free.
Sydney Festival 2006 program details were available at sydneyfestival.org.au.
Also see our Sydney Theatre Guide for Sydney Festival and other theatre productions.
