Supercity Arts Festival Set To Delight

MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate release

21 July, 2010

Supercity Arts Festival Set To Delight, Thrill And Entertain In 2011

Aucklanders are invited to leave the everyday behind and be transported to rich new artistic worlds with the next Auckland Arts Festival, which takes place 2-20 March, 2011.

The infinite possibilities of the universe, the thrill of discovery, and the excitement of travel to exotic worlds are metaphors for the fifth Auckland Arts Festival, says Artistic Director David Malacari, who today unveiled five highlights of the upcoming Festival.

“Our Festival progamme celebrates the limitless universe of the human imagination - of creativity, ideas and dreams,” says Malacari.

“Like all world-class Festivals, our goal is to inspire people to enlarge their horizons, visit captivating new creative worlds, and have exhilarating cultural experiences.”

The biennial Festival, which began in 2003, will celebrate its fifth birthday in 2011 and will be the first major arts and culture event of the Auckland Supercity. The Festival is a celebration of arts and culture for the entire region.

“The Auckland Arts Festival is the City’s only multi-arts event and its only major arts festival,” Malacari says. “Each Festival we build a stronger presence across greater Auckland and increase our impact in the central city.”

The five works announced today span four continents, and reflect the range of serious, innovative work and broad appeal events that make the Festival a celebratory 19-day party – a blend organisers say is tailored to Aucklanders’ desire to be challenged as well as entertained.

Two significant works from India and Vietnam will bring the energy and colour of traditional music and performance to Auckland, with a 21st Century twist. Described as a theatrical spectacle and a joyous, musical feast, The Manganiyar Seduction is a dazzling concert of Rajasthani music presented in a visually seductive set inspired by Amsterdam’s red light district and the Hawa Mahal or ‘Palace of the Winds’ in Jaipur.

The Thai Long Troupe will bring the enchanting thousand-year-old art form of Vietnamese Water Puppetry from the paddy fields of Red River Delta to a temporary, manmade pond in the new Aotea Square. Their show, a magical and exhilarating experience for both adults and children, headlines the Festival’s family programme.

La Odisea (The Odyssey) is a theatrical treat from Bolivia’s Teatro de los Andes. Cinematic in scope, La Odisea is a wonderful retelling of Homer’s Odyssey in which Ulysses is a Latino immigrant abroad, seeking to return to his family in Bolivia. Astonishing performances, live music and song, and dynamic staging are hallmarks of this captivating South American production.

Malacari announced a major Festival commission, a new dance work from choreographer Douglas Wright, one of this country’s most important artists. Wright describes rapt – his 11th full-length - as a work that “celebrates the dark radiant energies of the body [with] haunting unforgettable dances of serenity and power.” rapt will be performed on the Civic stage by a company that features many of New Zealand’s best international dancers.

Classical music is an important strand of the Auckland Arts Festival programme, and 2011 brings Aucklanders a rare opportunity to hear Baroque music played by one of the world’s outstanding period ensembles, The Lautten Compagney. The Berlin-based Baroque ensemble will present two programmes; The Chirping of the Nightingale, based on John Playford’s English Dancing Master, and Handel with Care, a concert of the timeless music of George Frederic Handel.

Malacari also announced the return in 2011 of Auckland favourite The Famous Spiegeltent, which will be situated in The Festival Garden, a reinvented Festival hub designed to make the most of the new-look Aotea Square precinct.

The Festival Garden will be a dynamic environment with its own performance spaces – including the Famous Spiegeltent, the Vietnamese Water Puppets’ pond, cafes and bars. Programming for the Spiegeltent and Garden will be announced in November.

The rest of the 2011 Festival programme - an estimated 40 separate productions involving more than 500 artists, visual arts exhibitions, seminars, workshops and family activities – will be finalised in the coming weeks. The full programme will be launched in November, when tickets sales will open.

The Auckland Arts Festival enjoys major support from New Zealand Post, Colenso BBDO, Creative NZ, ASB Community Trust and the Ratepayers of Auckland

ends

© Scoop Media