Festival Director: Stephen Hall
The Festival of Sydney celebrated the 80th anniversary of the Commonwealth of Australia with a birthday party like no other. The daytime celebrations in Hyde Park included brass bands, folk groups and a range of free outdoor entertainment.
The Australiana theme continued with a new venture for the Festival; Australian Cinema: The New Generation. Across a week, this presentation of the latest independent films from Australia’s newest generation of filmmakers saw cinema take a stronger position in the Festival line-up, alongside the usual strands of theatre, dance and music.
An ongoing exhibition of visual art and poetry by people with a disability was housed in the Connexion ’81 Pavilion, and included a dramatic presentation of Theorem, a play involving 50 actors.
MUSIC
Australian Youth Orchestra
Conductor: Denis de Coteau
Soloist: Roger Woodward
Musica Antiqua Of Cologne
Roger Woodward In Recital
Strings, Quills & Keys
Christopher Hogwood
Sydney String Quartet
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Patrick Thomas
Soloists: Rhonda Bruce, Ronald Maconaghie, Thomas Edmonds with members of the Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra
Sydney Virtuosi
Cowboys Inc
David Martin Quintet with Norma Martin
Grupo Folklorico Equatoriano
Higgins Municipal
Jack Lesmana Quartet
Jay and the Brazilian Cockroaches
Keith Sterling Quintet
Maree Montgomery Group
Rum Culs
Stringbow and Bellows
The Irish Drovers
Tom Baker's Groove City
UNSW Regimental Band
Marcus Turner
Mike The Music Man Jackson
The Festival Of Folklife: Back To The Bush
Dave de Hugard, the Colonial Dancers, Alec Richards, Joe Weatherby, Walter McLaughlan, Higgins Municipal Band, Alex Hood
The Festival Of Folklife: Beat Your Breasts
The Ovarian Sisters, Mary Jane Carpenter, Maree Cunnington
The Festival Of Folklife: Bush Dance
Rum Culls Bush Band, Higgins Municipal Band, Sendeka Music
The Festival Of Folklife: Family Concert
Mike and Michelle Jackson, Marcus Turner, Bernard Bolan, Rum Culls Bush Band, Sedenka
The Festival Of Folklife
Gove Scrivenar, Chris Duffy's Bluegrass Conspiracy, Robin Williamson
The Festival Of Folklife: Grand Colonial Bush Dance
Rum Culls Bush Band, Higgins Municipal Band, Sedenka, compered by Frank Canty and Mike Jackson
The Festival Of Folklife: Rebels All!
Denis Kevans, John Dengate, Phyl Lobl
The Festival Of Folklife: Shamrock And Thistle
Robin Williamson, Cathie O'Sullivan, the Celtic Dancers, Pipe and Drum, Raglan Road, Joe Heaney
The Festival Of Folklife: So You Want Blood!
Jeannie Lewis, Nathan Waks and others
The Festival Of Folklife: Troubadours And Minstrels
Early Music Duo, Laberinto, Roy Harris
The Qantas International Jazz Festival
Anita O'Day and Trio, David Marr Quintet plus Norman Martin, Jack Lesmana Quartet, Tom Baker's Groove City, Don Andrews/Peter Boothman Duo, Geoff Bull's Esteemed Buttons Brass Band, Joachim Kuhn, Keith Sterling Quartet, Keys Orchestra, Serge Ermoll Concert Ensemble, Bruce Cale Orchestra, Mark Simmonds/Phil Treloar Duo, Bernie McGann Group, Peter Delosa Quartet, Utungun Percussion
DANCE
Steps, Notes And Squeaks
Svetlana Beriosova, Michael Manning
The Festival Of Dance
Adelaide Dance Group, Queensland Contemporary Dance Theatre, Human Veins, Impulse Dance Theatre of New Zealand, Australian Contemporary Dance Company, One Extra Dance Group, Dance Exchange
THEATRE
An Evening with Sean O'Casey
Genesian Theatre Company
Beauty and the Beast
Sydney Theatre Company
Bertha Jefferies vs Sir Henry Parkes
The Darlinghurst Players
Celluloid Heroes
Nimrod Theatre
Concerning Poor BB
Nimrod Theatre
Deeds
Ensemble Theatre
Female Teenage Reflections
Pilgrim Theatre
Five Minutes, Mr Klein
Ensemble Theatre
Four Canterbury Tales
ATYP
Glad Bags
Ensemble Theatre
Hammer
Ensemble Theatre
I Colombaioni
Colombaioni Brothers
Impulse Dance Theatre
Judgement
Melbourne Playbox Theatre
Love and the Single Teenager; Bill Posters Will Be Prosecuted
Griffin Theatre Company
Mime Spectrum
Sydney Corporeal Mime Theatre
Modern Mime Theatre
Picasso on Stage
Standard Operating Procedure
Fools Gallery Theatre Company
The Centenarian
Ensemble Theatre
The Choir
Nimrod Theatre
The Colonial Experience
New Theatre
The Incredible Vanishing
The Liberation of Skopje
Zagreb Theatre Company
The Musicians, or: The Dream Of Joseph Bach
The Rocks Players
Twilight Zone
When in Rome
Ensemble Theatre
Who Stole My Closet?
Gay Theatre Company
CABARET
Kids' Cabaret
Pipi Storm
CIRCUS
The Lily Moon Clown Show
ART
A 20th Century Colonial: William Hardy Wilson
AB Origine - From The Beginning
Animals On Canvas
Art Clothes
Australian Aboriginal Art From Arnhem Land
Awareness - Are Your Senses Making Sense?
Bruce Copping - Sculpture and Salute To Sydney
Cadman's Cottage Historic Site
Chain Reaction Environments
Charles Kerry's Federation Australia
Crafts Council of NSW January Exhibition
Exhibitions By Roderick Bamford And Richard Brooks
Heinz Steinmann Exhibition
Model Train Display
Objects To Human Scale
Oils And Watercolours By Leading Australian Artists
One Hundred Years
Paul Bakker Exhibition
People Of St James
Photographic Exhibition of Early Sydney - Clyde Snape Collection
Photography - A Creative Approach
Pompeii AD79
Studio Access
Summer Show
Sydney Morning Herald Art Prize And Art Scholarship For A City Heritage Painting
The Goldrush Days
The House That Jack Built
The Last Man And The Last Shilling
Vintage Motorcycle Display
Zebras And Other Friends From Taronga Park
CELEBRATIONS
Australia Day Ceremony
BP Party
Caltex Concert Stage
Connexion '81 Pavilion
Festival Mardi Gras
Festival Parade
Happy Birthday Party
Hyde Park Square
New Year's Eve
The Wine And Diners' Club
Ye Festival Mediaeval Fayre
FILM
Australian Cinema: The New Generation
Ads And Heads/Frontline/From Nagasaki to Hiroshima
Closed Doors/Winter's Harvest/Give Trees A Chance
Darcy/Arriverdici Roma/Now And Then
Evictions/Keep Moving/Voc Populi/Exits
Shift/Against The Grain
Terror Lostralis/Farewell To Charms/Buckeye and Pinto
That's Progress/No Such Place/Takeover
Cuban Film Week
El Brigadista/The Teacher
Giron
In A Certain Way
Portrait of Teresa
The Man From Misinicu
The New School/The Last Supper
Viva La Republica
MAGIC
Magic Nouveau
Patrick Simpson
POETRY
Black Out
Poetry Café
Sydney Poet's Ball
Sydney Women Writer's Workshop
SPORT
Abbotsford 12' Flying Squadron
AJC Race Meetings
Ampol Champion of Masters Bowls Champions
Balmain and District 12' Flying Squadron
Benson & Hedges Festival Showjumping Championships
Benson & Hedges World Series Cricket
Drummoyne Junior Sailing Club
Festival Of Sydney Fraded Tenpin Bowling Masters and Junior Graded Masters
Festival of Sydney Medallion Rifle Championships
Greater Sydney Tenpin Bowling Association Festival of Sydney Championships
International Dragon Association of New South Wales
Middle Harbour Yacht Club
New South Wales Trotting Club's Summer Carnival
RAN Sailing Association Regatta
Royal Sydney Anniversary Regatta
Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron
Sydney Cricket Club/Festival of Sydney Double Wicket Tournament
Sydney Turf Club Race Meetings
Tattersall's Club Meeting
The Crazy Cue Cola Regatta
The Great Ferry Boat Race
