Perth Festival 2024 kicks off with a bumper opening weekend welcoming audiences to an exciting array of new experiences to share across the city and regional Western Australia.
Fabulous February gets a whole lot sunnier with a full spectrum of world premieres, famous international stars and shimmering local stories to make our faces shine all month long.
This weekend is packed with grand spectacle, tender storytelling and dazzling artistry including WA Opera’s world-premiere lovelorn Noongar epic Wundig wer Wilura, Akram Khan’s global hit Jungle Book reimagined, the acclaimed Broome-Singapore dance theatre of Marrugeku’s Mutiara, Black Swan State Theatre Company of WA's splash-fest The Pool, the Perth Moves free dance hub run by STRUT Dance, iconic pianist Ludovico Einaudi in concert and so much more.
Image: The Pool. Picture: Simon Westlake
We also take our Touring WA program to Geraldton, with Block Party Boom celebrating First Nations’ hip hop music and culture at the Queens Park Theatre Amphitheatre, and the Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre hosting the dance, music and art sensation Wayfinder.
As we celebrate the theme of Ngaangk, our mother star for Festival 2024, the sun and its botanic progeny infuse two special free events inside Perth’s empty Carillon City shopping mall. Rebecca Baumann’s Light Event bathes audiences in shifting shades of coloured sunlight beneath the atrium roof, and hundreds of water-plants inhabit the flooded basement food court in Linda Tegg’s Wetland, in collaboration with Vivienne Hansen. These are just two of the many exhibitions running across the diverse visual arts program throughout the Festival.
At The Rechabite, ballroom trailblazers House of Reign join audacious MCs Vv Pete and JULAI in a free-entry extravaganza to open three weeks of global rhythms at our Northbridge hot spot. Acts include Courtney Barnett, Lonnie Holley, Moor Mother & Irreversible Entanglements, Michael Rother & Friends, Flewnt’s Boorloo Block Party, xmunashe, Wednesday and MJ Lenderman, Thee Sacred Souls and Greentea Peng all the way through to March.
Image: Flewnt's Boorloo Block Party. Picture: Jess Wharehinga.
Artistic Director Iain Grandage says: "Welcome to your Festival filled with light and warmth, built to celebrate our shared humanity through stories from here and around the globe.
"Over the next three weeks, some of the finest artists in the world are with us, each creating the most extraordinary experiences across locations around our city of light. It is a privilege to share their offerings with audiences from near and far – we hope to make your faces shine."
With many Festival shows selling fast, tickets are still available to experience the brilliance of acclaimed string quartet Brooklyn Rider, the exhilarating stage show Wayfinder the artistry of Dr Lou Bennett, Lior and the Australian String Quartet in Ngapa William Cooper and the new-look Writers Weekend (23 – 25 February) at the State Library of Western Australia.
Image: Sampa The Great. Picture: Imraan Christian
On the final Friday of the Festival, Sampa The Great brings her powerhouse mix of rap, hip hop and R&B to Supreme Court Gardens, where British superstar Sampha wraps up the weekend with his mesmerising soul-fuelled live concert supported by Nai Palm from Hiatus Kaiyote on Sunday March 3. Festival 2024 ends formally in a twilight of togetherness at our free Lotterywest Closing Event Under the Same Sun on Saturday, 2 March. Capacity limits apply so you must register for tickets to attend.
Also forging deeper understanding and connection for artists and audiences will be our arts-sector support, creative learning and community engagement opportunities through our extensive Connect program of special behind-the-scenes experiences.
These are just some of the 120 diverse and accessible events – many of them free – across theatre, music, dance, opera and literature until the Labour Day long weekend. And our extensive Lotterywest Films and visual arts programs continue running through to late March and April.
Perth Festival runs from Friday 9 February to Sunday 3 March 2024. Lotterywest Films is currently running through to Sunday 31 March 2024.