Festival Director: Stephen Hall
The fourth Festival of Sydney saw a new spin on New Year’s Day, as they hosted the largest Highland Gathering and Games in the Southern Hemisphere. Another new feature of the program was Dancexplosion 1980, with dance companies from around Australia performing their latest works in a series of premiere performances.
It was a particularly strong year for theatre, with the newly formed Sydney Theatre Company presenting its first production in the Drama Theatre at the Sydney Opera House: the historic Australian work The Sunny South by George Darrell, directed by Richard Wherrett.
The Festival provided a unique platform for new productions with the Ensemble Festival of Sydney Playwrights 1980. Some of the works would later reach international audiences, like No Room For Dreamers by George Hutchinson, going on to play at Edinburgh Festival.
Finally, in a tradition that holds until this day, Festival of Sydney 1980 hosted the inaugural Ferrython, originally known as The Great Ferry Boat Race.
MUSIC
Ensemble of Sydney
Festival of Sydney Orchestra
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Sydney Virtuosi
Abdullah Ibrahim - Dollar Brand Quintet, Errol Buddie Quintet
An Evening with Mike McClellan and Chris Duffy
Dollar Brand, David Liebman, Art Ensemble of Chicago
Bob Bertle’s Moontrane
Chris Duffy Band
David Liebmann, Mike Nock All Stars, Jelly Roll Band, Dick Hughes Famous Five
David Martin Group
Evening of Asian and Pacific Culture
Festival of Folklife
Stefan Grossman, John Renbourn, Chris Duffy Band, Paul Brady, Bernard Bolan, Eric Bogle, Jeannie Lewis, Lee Williams Band, The Larrikins, Keith McGarvie
Gllian Eastoe and King Dog
Goldrush
Higgins Municipal
International Jam Session
Laurie Benner, John Hoffman, Keith Hounslow, Nancy Stuart, Dutch Tilders, Some, Tony Buchanan, Jack Rimsley, Bob McIvor, Ron Toussart, Tony Esterman, Dieter Vogt
INXS
Japanese Folk Concert
Jazz Festival
The Bruce Cale Quartet, Don Burrows, Don Andrews, George Golla, the Young Northside Big Band, Graeme Bell, Judy Bailey Arts Ensemble of Chicago, Dollar Brand, David Liebman, Voices of The Leonine Consort, Jazz Jamboree, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Lew Tabackin's Big Band Music
John St Peeters
Judy Bailey Quintet
Mike and Michelle Jackson
Modern Music by Enso
Noel Crow's Jazz Men
Organ Recital
Paradiddle
Peter Boothman and Evolution Jazz Group
Roger Woodward
Shirley Collins and Peter Ballamy
Steam Shuttle
Stefan Grossman and John Renbourn
Sydney Songster
The Guitar In Jazz
The Larrikins and Uncle Harry
The Laurie Bennett Jam Session
OPERA
Patience
The Australian Opera
The Bear
The Australian Opera
The Pearl Fishers
Victorian State Opera
The Triumph of Honour
The Australian Opera
THEATRE
A Big Hand For The Limbs
Murray River Performing Group
Abstractions
All My Sons
New Theatre
Beyond The Hard Old World
The Darlinghurst Players
Boys Own McBeth
Composer & Playwright: Grahame Bond
Playwright: Jim Burnett
Dick Hughes Famous Five
Edward's Unfortunate Alliance
Ensemble Theatre
Emu Nugent's Stories To Make Your Ears Fall Off
Forbidden Fruit
Ensemble Theatre
Knuckle
Ensemble Theatre
Little Bo Peep
More Than A Sentimental Bloke
John Derum
Motion Picture Mime Show
Mr Jupiter’s Children’s Theatre
Murray River Performing Group
No Room For Dreamers
Ensemble Theatre
On Our Selection
Nimrod Theatre
Paco and Lobo
PACT Clown Factory
PACT Theatre
PACT Theatre Co-op
PACT Theatre
Pirates At The Barn
Nimrod Theatre
Rapunzel
Songs Of Innocence and Experience
The Do-It-Yourself Pantomime
PACT Theatre
The Dying Of Angel Dunleavy
Ensemble Theatre
The End of the Earth Show
The Rocks Players
The Ideas Company
The Last Time I Saw Paris
Ensemble Theatre
The Really Interesting Gypsies
The Sower and The Reaper
Ensemble Theatre
The Sunny South
Sydney Theatre Company
The Three Secrets
New Theatre
The Travelling Doctor Show
Those Fabulous Years 1901-2001
Toad of Toad Hall
Tom Thumb
Pilgrim Theatre
Travelling North
Nimrod Theatre
Wizard of Oz
Presented by Clem Dirago
Fall of the House of Usher
Steven Berkhoff
DANCE
Australian Contemporary Dance Company
Dancexplosion 1980
One Extra Dance Group
The Australian Contemporary Dance Company
CABARET
Kids Cabaret featuring the Bunyip Children's Band
CIRCUS
Sidewalk Circus
The Busy Bodies
ART
Aboriginal Bark Paintings
Allan Gamble's Sydney, drawings of Central Sydney
Archaic Sound Sculpture
Colin Offord
Australian Images
The Australian Women's Weekly Collection of Conrad Martens works
Contemporary Paintings
Deborah Niland Festive Paintings
Eight Artists from Western Australia
Ethnic Arts and Crafts
Frei Otto
Herald Art Prize
Institute of Australian Photographers Merit Awards and Hasselblad Masters
Exhibition
Leading Australian Artists
Marking Time, watercolours by Robert Inkpen
Mick Griff
Movie Poster Exhibition
The Art of Gardening in Colonial Australia
The Hands Of The City
The People of St James
The Wind Blew Today/Families of Okinawa
USSR Old Masters paintings
AUSTRALIA DAY
Australia Day Ceremony
Battalion Parade
Beating the Retreat
The Regiment's Band
CELEBRATIONS
BP Disco
Inflatables
Mardi Gras
Medieval Faire
New Year's Day Highland Gathering
New Year's Eve
Marcia Hines, Rolf Harris, The Angels, Jon English, Grahame Bond
The American Express Food and Wine Frolic
EXHIBITIONS
Christmas In The Colony
Circular Quay: Model train display
Fine maps from the Dixon Library collection
Lion Rugs From Far (Iran)
Miles Franklin, from the Mitchell Library Collection
People and Places
The Bulletin Centennial Exhibition - English and European silver
Treasures of the Museum: African sculpture
MAGIC
Patrick Simpson's Magic Show
POETRY
Orchestrated Voices
Poetry Australia Presents
Poetry from Little Magazines
Sydney Women’s Writers Workshop
The New Rational Poetry
Young Street Poets
SPORT
Australian Frisbee Association
Benson and Hedges Festival Showjumping Championships
Grand Prix Cycle Race
Life Be In It Games
NSW Trotting Club's Summer Carnival
Pepsi Cola Can Regatta
Pub Squash Classic Car Rally
Tattersall Race meeting
The Great Ferry Boat Race
