Emmylou Harris, Kronos Quartet, and Philip Glass will be among the diverse array of artists performing at the Sydney Festival in Australia this January. Harris will give three shows, including a free set at the Festival First Night, marking her first time performing in Australia in a decade. Kronos gives the Australian premiere of A Chinese Home, with pipa virtuoso Wu Man, and performs Glass's Dracula with the composer. Glass also offers an evening of his chamber music with cellist Wendy Sutter. The Black Keys will be in Australia for the Big Day Out tour plus several newly added side shows.
Australia's Sydney Festival has announced the lineup for its 2011 gathering, and Emmylou Harris, Kronos Quartet, and Philip Glass will be among the diverse array of artists performing there this January.
The Festival kicks off on Saturday, January 8, with Festival First Night, when Sydney's street and parks will be filled with free events for the whole family. Included among them will be festival headliner Emmylou Harris and Her Red Dirt Boys, who will perform a free set at The Domain on opening night.
In an Australian exclusive, Harris and her four-piece band will perform two festival sets at Sydney's State Theatre, January 9 and 10. The shows will mark Harris's first time performing in Australia in a decade.
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Kronos Quartet will be joined at the State Theatre by pipa virtuoso Wu Man for the Australian premiere of a program featuring Ghost Opera, the Tan Dun piece recorded on the 1997 Nonesuch album, and A Chinese Home, which was conceived by Kronos Artistic Director David Harrington, Wu Man, and director Chen Shi-Zheng. The latter piece, a staged work with video, was inspired by the deconstruction and rebuilding in the US of a late Qing dynasty dwelling and explores both the rural sensibilities and modern attitudes of China.
On January 14, Kronos returns to the State Theatre for two performances of Philip Glass's score to the classic Bela Lugosi film Dracula. The Quartet will be joined by the composer at both the 7:30 PM and midnight performances of the score Glass wrote for the film and was released on a 1999 Nonesuch album.
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For Glass's next festival event, he will speak with Australian composer Paul Grabowsky at the City Recital Hall Angel Place on January 18. Following that conversation, Glass will join cellist Wendy Sutter for a performance of his chamber music with cellist Wendy Sutter, also at the City Recital Hall. Featured on the program are his Songs & Poems for Solo Cello, which he wrote for Sutter, and his Piano Etudes.
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Tickets for the 2011 Sydney Festival go on sale this Monday, November 15. For more information, visit sydneyfestival.org.au.
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Shortly after the above events, The Black Keys will be in Australia for the big Big Day Out festival tour, which kicks off in Auckland, New Zealand, on January 21 before heading to Australia's Gold Coast on January 23. The tour then makes further stops in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth. In addition, The Black Keys have just announced several side shows between Bid Day Out shows on Australia's East Coast. For more information, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.
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