Festival Director: Brett Sheehy
The 2002 Festival opened with a free theatrical performance by the internationally acclaimed Transe Express on the Sydney Opera House forecourt, followed by projected lighting of the majestic colonial buildings starting with Customs House, created by Electric Canvas in a Festival commission.
The Festival expanded its reach into the Fox Studios precinct, and beautiful aerial ballet courtesy of Les Arts Sauts was staged out of The Domain carpark.
Australian talent continued to be fostered within the program in the world premiere of Same, same But Different, a contemporary work by Kate Champion and her new company Force Majeure, commissioned by Sydney Festival and Melbourne Festival. Two-Up!, a Festival initiative for independent theatre companies was launched, the program included ATM, a play written by Brendan Cowell and directed by Leland Kean. The Festival also commissioned the Marrugeku Company in Crying Baby, in association with Perth Festival.
It wasn’t just Australian festival collaborators that helped facilitate new projects, The Angel Exchange saw the Festival team up with the prestigious UK Cheltenham International Festival of Music for a series of chamber concerts at City Recital Hall, Angel Place.
In other international entertainment, a three-part celebration of the art of David Byrne was an Australian premiere event. This included Byrne live in concert, an outdoor gallery of Byrne’s lightbox images, and the artist in conversation.
For Festival attendees looking for something to do between performances, the Bacardi Latino Festival was in full swing at Darling Harbour, and the Hahn Premium Festival Bar launched in the Hyde Park Barracks.
THEATRE
The Flood Drummers
Written by Hélène Cixous
Directed by Ariane Mnouchkine
Music by Jean-Jacques Lemêtre
Théâtre du Soleil
ØBS
La Fura dels Baus
Kayassine
Les Arts Sauts
Shadows
William Yang
Two-Up!: 360 Positions in a One Night Stand
Written by Ben Ellis, Veronica Gleeson, Nick Marchand, Tommy Murphy and Emma Vuletic
Directed by Chris Mead
Kicking and Screaming
Two-Up!: ATM
Written by Brendan Cowell
Directed by Leland Kean
Roguestar
Mad Bad & Spooky
By Beatrix Christian
Kim Carpenter's Theatre Of Image
Bell Malouf Euripides: Hippolytus
The Bell Shakespeare Company
Kinderspiel - Out of Bounds
Australian Theatre for Young People, Carrousel Theater an der Parkaue of Berlin
DANCE
Same, same But Different
Devised and directed by Kate Champion
Force Majeure
Hotel Central
Claude Brumachon and the Centre Chorégraphique National de Nantes
Crying Baby
Marrugeku Company
MUSIC
Symphony In The Domain
Sydney Symphony
Conductor: Alasdair Neale
Soloist: David Tong
The Angel Exchange
Soprano: Leanne Kenneally
Piano: Julius Drake
Sydney Soloists: Alison Mitchell (flute), Francesco Celata (clarinet), David Periera (cello)
The Angel Exchange: Belcea Quartet
The Angel Exchange: Belcea Quartet, Australian String Quartet
The Angel Exchange
Oboe: Nicholas Daniel
Reader: David Malouf
Sydney Soloists: Michael Dauth (violin), David Periera (cello), Francesco Celata (clarinet), David Bollard (piano)
The Angel Exchange
Oboe: Nicholas Daniel
Piano: Julius Drake
Percussion: Tim Constable
The Angel Exchange: Sydney Soloists
Violin: Michael Dauth, Fiona Zeigler
Viola: Esther van Stralen
Cello: David Pereira
Clarinet: Francesco Celata
Hahn Premium Festival Bar
Herbert, Shooglenifty, Joe Camilleri and the Revelators, David Lane, The Catholics, The Hive, Big Drum Up
Jazz On The Water
Battleship Potemkin
Sydney Symphony
Conductor: Alasdair Neale
Film by Sergei Eisenstein
Music by Dmitri Shostakovich
Bacardi Latino Festival
Ricardo Lemvo, Makina Loca, King Chango, Club Salsa
David Byrne: Live In Concert
Gong Myoung
Jazz In The Domain
Sydney Festival Jazz Orchestra, led by Maria Schneider
Mingus Big Band
Testimony: The Legend Of Charlie Parker
Australian Art Orchestra
Director: Nigel Jamieson
The Celestial Bells
Transe Express
The Michael Nyman Band
Vitale Salinas & Friends
FILM
Who Weekly OpenAir Cinema
An Evening With Len Lye
TALKS
Choreographers' Forum
Kate Champion, Claude Brumachon
Composers' Forum
Michael Berkeley, Peter Sculthorpe
Crtics' Forum
Deborah Jones
Directors' Forum
Ariane Mnouchkine
DJ's Forum
Matthew Herbert
Public Art and Advertising
David Byrne
Shiro Matsui's Forum
Shiro Matsui
An Evening With Michael Leunig
Michael Leunig
EXHIBITIONS & INSTALLATIONS
Buddha: Past, Present, Future
Neo-Tokyo: Japanese art now
Stranger Than Truth
Akira Isogawa
Deep Water/Aqua Profunda
Lyndal Jones
parascope
Shiro Matsui
The New Sins
David Byrne
Neon Colonial
Electric Canvas
Leunig Animated
Michael Leunig
On Location: Sydney
Spinning Around: 50 Years Of Festival Records
CELEBRATIONS
Australia Day Harbour Parade
Australia Day Picnics
Australia Day Spectacular
Buddhist Blessings in the Domain
Darling Harbour Celebrations
St George Bank Hyde Park and Eastside Celebrations
SPORT
Coca Cola Amatil Ferrython
NRMA Motorfest
