It is a convention of the Sydney Festival, in conjunction with the traditional paid for performances, to stage a number of free events.
Fortunately some of the big events such as Opera In The Park and Symphony Under The Stars have been with the Festival since its inception and have remained. The latter, however, has a new home, no longer in the Domain but in The Crescent at Parramatta Park. One need not worry as Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture with fireworks was still performed.
The Meriton Festival Village was present yet again in Hyde Park. However this year it had transformed into a Sideshow Alley.
Across the city, at Carriageworks in Newtown, German artist Katharina Grosse draped the entire front atrium in tie-dyed fabric in an immersive work entitled THE HORSE TROTTED ANOTHER COUPLE OF METRES. THEN IT STOPPED.
Aboriginal history was not forgotten with a performance entitled At Nawi Cove, Barangaroo. The performance commemorates the 4000 or so fish plundered by the early colonists thereby depriving the local Aboriginals of a vital part of their staple diet.
Let’s hope next year’s Festival, both paid for and free, is even bigger and better.
Pics by Ben Apfelbaum.
