|
|
International Showcase A magic night of performances selected by the festival’s Artistic Director, highlighting four acts from the festival program which are considered especially exciting cultural experiences—this year featuring groups from Ghana and Bulgaria plus Australia’s international prize-winning indigenous group, Descendance. Date and Time Friday, 8 February, 8pm Contact Canberra This is an expo of Canberra’s community life, with five hours of entertainment—plus OZ Dance with a program of contemporary youth dance. Here’s where to make contact with community, recreational, artistic, welfare, social and political organisations, who will all be promoting their activities at Contact Canberra. ActewAGL Contact Canberra demonstrates what an exciting city Canberra is to live in and be involved in. Date and Time Sunday, 10 February, 11am to 5pm
Food and Dance Spectacular Taste the world with the Fyshwick Fresh Food Markets Food and Dance Spectacular—a unique event that each year transforms the inner city into a colourful carnival of multicultural Canberra. On par with festivals around the world, the Food and Dance Spectacular makes the city rock and shimmer with colour, music and dance. 2008 is bigger and better than ever before, and with more than 190 stalls, and four stages presenting local, interstate and international performers long into the night. Enter Arab Avenue through a traditional Bedouin tent and discover a trove of textiles, clothing, artwork, teas and traditional foods from 12 Arabic nations… or explore Euro Street for all-things European including travel information and kids’ projects. Date and Time Saturday, 9 February, 11am ‘til late
Nour Amal Blind Eye Orchestra of Egypt Proudly sponsored by The Tradies Al Nour Wal Amal Academic Music Institute was established in 1961 by Dr Samha El Rholy, to introduce girls to an art form that many vision impaired people have excelled in, as well as providing them with a creative outlet to express their emotions. The girls study all aspects of music theory, harmony, ear-training and learning to read music in Braille. All music is memorised before orchestral performance! The most talented students join the Cairo Conservatory of Music. The orchestra is trained and conducted by Maestro Ahmed Aboul Eid, who has worked with the girls since 1984. This is a fully fledged orchestra by professional standards. It is unique in the world as it is the only orchestra entirely formed of vision impaired people. The orchestra began concert tours abroad in 1988 and has performed for two consecutive years in Austria before going to Jordan, Kuwait, England, Sweden, Turkey, Zaire, Lebanon, the Congo, and the United States. In each country the orchestra achieved outstanding success and recognition. Date and Time Thursday, 14 February, 12.30pm plus evening performance at 8pm The Greek Orthodox Community and Church of Canberra and Districts invite you to join in the celebrations of the 11th Annual Greek Glendi, at Garema Place. Come on down to celebrate the Greek spirit and enjoy the exciting line-up of entertainment. The Greek Glendi will feature traditional and contemporary live music throughout the day, including colourful dance performances from all regions of Greece and Cyprus. Canberrans can sample Greek’s culinary delights including traditional souvlaki, dolmades, calamari and the favourite octopus dish—or they can just sit at The Kafeneio (The Greek Cafe) and enjoy a traditional Greek coffee and home-made sweets and a have a game of backgammon with friends. Don't miss this Mediterranean experience, celebrating the richness and diversity of Greek food, music and the arts. Date and Time Sunday, 10 February, 12pm (noon) to 6pm
The Grace and Splendour of Ancient Dynasties The China Shaanxi Provincial Song and Dance Troupe is the flagship arts company of Shaanxi Province, in China’s ancient capital of Xi’an, hometown of Terracotta Warriors. The company draws on the rich cultural heritage of central China, and is best known for its reproduction of the music and dances of the Tang Dynasty, China’s heyday between the 7th and the 10th centuries AD. This 80-minute program encompasses several group dances including a mask dance and waist-drum dance, a pan-pipe solo using the Paixiao (a 3000-yesr-old Chinese variation of pan pipes) and a solo with the ancient zither (a piece enshrined as a living fossil of Chinese music of the 4th century BC) Date and Time Monday, 11 February, 7.30pm
Carnivale! The big night each year when Garema Place and City Walk are transformed into one giant fiesta, and Canberra dances to the Latin beat! A musically hot summer night featuring live performances across two stages from some of Australia’s finest Latin acts. 2008’s extraordinary line-up includes the big-band sound of Melbourne’s Cuban-influenced salsa hip-hoppers San Lazaro, the slinky Brazilian bossa of The Jeanne Bastos Band, Andean traditionalists Parana and Sydney Latin funksters Matanza. Plus the cream of Canberra’s own Latin music scene with super-tight big band Mi Tierra, sensual songstress Selene, Latin fusionists Los Chavos, vocal group Alma Latina, cultural dance group Baile Chile, and the sexy moves of Canberra’s best Latin dance schools. Date and Time Saturday, 16 February, 6pm ‘til late
Pacific Islander Showcase The vision of this event is to highlight a tolerant and harmonious multicultural community in Canberra—a community that appreciates and respects people from diverse cultural backgrounds. The Pacific Island communities in Canberra include Tonga, Samoa, Aotearoa, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Fiji.“For us, dancing and singing is not entertainment but a way of life,” the organisers say. “We are a colourful, happy, and very festive people, and we invite you to join us in celebrating our warm and vibrant culture!” Date and Time Saturday, 16 February, 11am to 4pm Tango Café Argentine Tango is a social dance, danced by young and old in the streets and bars of Buenos Aires, while passing musicians pick out tunes on a bandoneon. The Tango Social Club of Canberra will recreate Buenos Aires in the heart of Canberra at the Tango Café. DJ Tim will also play classics from the golden age of tango to get your heart singing, your feet gliding and your partner melting. Don’t just sit and watch, come to our introductory workshop or just grab a partner and join us on the dance floor! Date and Time Saturday, 16 February, 6.30pm to 12am - 6pm for a 30-minute introductory workshop Descendance are Australia’s premier and internationally acclaimed indigenous dancers, and winners of the UNESCO World Dance and Peace Prize at the World Culture Festival Korea in 2004. The group has performed in over 30 countries, sharing traditional and contemporary performances with the world. They’re part of the International Showcase. Date and Time Part of the International Showcase, Friday, 8 February The Gospel Spectacular is a showcase musical event, bringing together the best in gospel music in Canberra with the international gospel group, the St James AME Mass Choir and Dance Ministries all the way from Newark, New Jersey, USA. They join the Big Sound Band, Gospel City Singers, CircXtreme and Choir, Emmanuel and The African Dance Ensemble, the Tongan Choir of the City Uniting Church, Rebekkah’s Soul Band, and Frank & Edgar from Capetown, South Africa. It is a high-energy, spirit-filled event with a vision to entertain audiences of diverse backgrounds in a celebratory atmosphere filled with singing, music and dance. The Gospel Spectacular will attract people of different faiths to celebrate and enjoy this musical extravaganza. The event will showcase the best musical talent in the gospel genre on a huge scale. Date and Time Sunday, 10 February, 7.30pm Presented by South Productions and sponsored by the Council on Australia Latin America Relations and The Embassy of Argentina Maria de Buenos Aires - TangOpera Maria de Buenos Aires personifies the Tango. Her cradle lies on the banks of the delta of the Rio de la Plata, where Argentinean peasants fleeing the countryside and countless European emigrants bore her into the suburbs of Buenos Aires in the middle of the 19th century. While waiting for their lot to improve, they combined the Argentinean milonga with the Afro-American rhythms of the candombe and with the Hispano-Cuban Habanera and various European music forms to produce the multicultural tango. The history of Maria de Buenos Aires is also the story of this work, a “tangopera”. Buenos Aires gives birth to a girl. Buenos Aires loses a girl to the shadowy underworld. Buenos Aires reunites with the girl’s spirit. That is the story of María de Buenos Aires, in an operetta language. Composed by Astor Piazzolla more than 30 years ago, this “little tango opera” remains a work of stunning originality. Indeed, the alchemy achieved here by tango master Astor Piazzolla—whose avant-garde, quasi-symphonic meditations on this dance form have achieved renewed popularity—and librettist Horacio Ferrer, involves a particular amalgam of music and surrealist poetry. Script by Horacio Ferrer. Music by Astor Piazzolla. Musical direction by Marcela Fiorillo. Artistic direction by Jorge Bagnini. Date and Time Friday, 15 and Saturday, 16 February, 8pm
Chinese New Year The Chinese lions will be out in force and Woolley Street will be abuzz with street performers, drums, music, singing, food and families celebrating the Year of the Rat. Chinese New Year Celebrations for 2008 Year of the Rat will feature traditional festivities for young and old, including dancers, Chinese opera and singing, numerous stalls of arts and crafts, a Chinese chess competition, lion dances, calligraphy and children’s events. During the day the stages will showcase many cultural performances by local and visiting Chinese performing arts groups. The day celebrates the New Year, new fortunes and prosperity. The dragon will be awakened to parade through Woolley Street, Dickson—touching the dragon will bring great luck and fortune! These celebrations are organised by the Federation of Chinese Organisations of the ACT Inc, CFMEU/The Tradies, and the Office of Multicultural, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs. Date and Time Sunday, 17 February 10am to 10pm
CSOlé! CSO Prom Concert Spice up your summer afternoon with the zest and passion of music with a Spanish theme—“CSOlé!” Picnic rugs, hampers and champagne are the order of the day as friends and families enjoy beautiful music within the lush gardens of Government House. Let yourself be seduced by Mediterranean landscapes, exotic energy and a supercharged line up of soloists who will join the Canberra Symphony Orchestra (CSO) under their Chief Conductor, Matador Nicholas Milton. The amazing Geoffrey Payne (principal trumpet with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra) will redefine your ideas on what a trumpet can sound like, while the stunning Victoria Lambourn (mezzo soprano with Opera Queensland) will delight each and every one of your senses. Spanish music is so extravagant, this is a Prom Concert that you will not be able to enjoy sitting down. So, pack your piñatas, bring your sombreros and get ready to enjoy the Spanish energy of “CSOlé!” Featuring favourites such as Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro”; Bizet’s “Carmen Suites No.1”; Rossini’s “Barber of Seville”; and Tchaikovsky’s “Spanish Dances” from “Swan Lake”. Date and Time: Saturday, 9 February, 5 to 7pm The Tradies and Fyshwick Fresh Food Markets, National Multicultural Festival and Stopera proudly present Opera by the Lake Rond Terrace again provides the magnificent setting for the Festival Finale, a gala opera concert from Stopera, the ACT’s award-winning opera company. Join in a magical evening of romance and passion by the shores of Lake Burley Griffin, with a star-studded cast of singers performing opera highlights as the sun sets over panoramic views of Canberra. Back by popular demand after the success of the first Opera By The Lake in 2007, Opera Australia’s Andrew Greene conducts the Stopera Festival Orchestra and an outstanding line-up of singers from national, state and international opera companies in a program full of your favourite opera moments: the greatest hits from La Bohème, Die Fledermaus, La Traviata, The Pearlfishers and much more! Be seduced and transported by the musical masterpieces of Mozart, Verdi and Puccini, as you relax in superb surroundings. It’s a summer experience not to be missed! Artistic Director: Vivienne Winther. Conductor: Andrew Greene. Singers: Gary Rowley, Christina Wilson, Rachael Duncan, Laurence Meikle, Roy Best, Rebecca Collins. Date and Time Sunday, 17 February at 6pm (gates open from 4pm) |
||||
|
||||
 |
|
|
|
|
