Live Performance:
Tue 19 – Sat 23 Oct, at 6.30pm & 8pm
Fri 22 & Sat 23 Oct at 5pm

A sensual experience that explores survival in a complex and chaotic world.

Audiences are invited into the heart of a spherical space where dream-like images are projected all around. A musician plays live, her solo set against an electroacoustic backdrop realised by some of the world’s most respected sound artists. In the midst of this evolving world, you lie back on your chair and immerse yourself in the exquisite sights and sounds.

Inspired by experiences and ideas based within nature, en masse is the result of a collaboration between Australian recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey and UK filmmaker Marc Silver. Part concert, part film, part installation, this unique and mesmerising Festival experience is made complete by the soulful sounds of Lacey performing live, but can also be experienced as a beautiful sonic and visual installation.

Festival Season: Fri 8 Oct at 6pm & 8pm /
Sat 9, Fri 15, Sat 16, Fri 22 & Sat 23 Oct at 6pm, 8pm & 10pm
Sun 10 &17 Oct at 4pm, 6pm & 8pm /
Tue 12 – Thu 14 & Tue 19 – Thu 21 Oct at 7pm & 9pm

Session open for 2 hours (last entry 45mins after session starts)

Run away to the Carnival, where circus stars and sideshow queens, poets and daredevils, painters, playwrights, aerialists and food artistes concoct a heady mix of unforgettable entertainment under a handmade starry sky.

Overhead, underfoot and throughout four extraordinary intricate sites, the Carnival of Mysteries seduces audiences with the work of 30 unique artists commissioned to respond to the Mysteries of Innocence, Passion, Mercy, Forgiveness and Love.

Behind the intricate hoardings of ‘Sideshow Alley’ intimate pleasure halls offer entertainments for one to ten people; in the gorgeous ‘Pleasure Gardens’ tables, chairs and refreshments curve around the walls and spectacles surprise throughout the night; in the hidden ‘Shrine’ the grand piano plays for those in a reflective mood; and in the jewel of the Carnival crown, the hand decorated ‘Tent Of Miracles’, a new show can be seen every ten minutes.

Warning: Nudity, Adult Concepts, Smoking & Smoke Effects, Strobe Effects, Loud Music. Under 18s must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian

Access: limited. Wheelchairs accommodated on request.

Our friends reflect who we want to be; our acquaintances who we might become; our family what has made us. But only a stranger can reveal who we really are.

Intimacy is the latest creation from the multi-award winning Melbourne-based ensemble Ranters Theatre. It begins with a man stepping out of his apartment into the chaos of a busy night. His aim: nothing more than to speak to strangers, to meet new people, to flirt with the simple differences any urban street may throw up. The result: an evening of human connection between people whose collision is as profound as it is happenstance.

Beck’s Festival Bar transforms Melbourne’s iconic Forum Theatre into a house of worship for a series of performances designed to respond to themes of Shamanism, cult bands and music as religious experience.

Presented over seven nights throughout the Festival, the program reveals an underlying rhythm divine, which links contemporary, alternative music making from around the world. From the omnivorous, free-ranging aural play of Japan’s Boredoms, to the extreme power of Sri Lanka’s preeminent metal band Stigmata and the psychedelic surf rock of Dengue Fever, this series draws out the cathartic experience music provides for makers and lovers alike.

Please Note: Entry to the venue is restricted to persons over the age of 18 or persons under the age of 18 who are accompanied by their parent or legal guardian (one guardian per person required).

After appearances around the world with The Black Arm Band and roles in Jindabyne, Australia and The Sapphires, the mesmerising Ursula Yovich brings her soulful one-woman cabaret show Magpie Blues to the Forum. This moving musical account of growing up in the Northern Territory with a mother from Arnhem Land and a Serbian father features a mix of Yovich’s own new songs and musical influences from her past (including a killer medley of blockbuster hits from the 1980s).

Drawing upon her unique cultural background, Magpie Blues is inspired by Ursula Yovich’s totem, the magpie, a songbird whose black and white feathers reflect the black and white heritage of Yovich herself. Supported by her four-piece band, Yovich tells a story infused with sadness, love, separation and dislocated cultural identity. Magpie Blues is certainly not all blue. It’s an entertaining musical adventure about following dreams, about belonging everywhere and nowhere, and ultimately about finding a unique and powerful voice.

Thomas Adès regularly works with the world’s leading orchestras, opera companies and festivals. For this concert he conducts the internationally renowned Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for what is the highlight of the Thomas Adès Melbourne residency. The program features some of Adès’ most acclaimed work, including his violin concerto “Concentric Paths” written for, and performed here by, award-winning violinist Anthony Marwood and the Australian premiere of his recent “In Seven Days Piano Concerto with Moving Image”.

“In Seven Days” is an exquisite multimedia piece for piano (played by Nicolas Hodges), orchestra and video screen. A collaborative work between Thomas Adès and video artist Tal Rosner, the piece is described by the artists as a video-ballet in seven movements that follows the Genesis tale of creation. The visuals and the music tell the story in a set of abstract variations, each new element – light/darkness, sea/sky, heavenly bodies, plants, creatures – represented in a stunning sequence of musical and visual creations.

The Festival’s Adès celebration begins with his landmark collaboration with the Calder Quartet. This innovative US string group, with a growing reputation for stretching the boundaries of classical music, has worked extensively with Adès to great acclaim and can be counted among the composer’s avid proponents. For its Australian debut the Calder Quartet joins Adès on piano to perform a delightful musical program featuring the “Piano Quintet” that was initially commissioned by Melbourne Festival.

Whether they’re performing with Thomas Adès, party rocker Andrew W K or appearing on David Letterman, the USA’s Calder Quartet is blazing new ground. Inspired by the innovative American artist Alexander Calder, the Calder Quartet is renowned for performing traditional quartet repertoire as well as partnering with modern composers, emerging musicians and performers across genres.

The quartet members were originally drawn together by their love of the Austro-German composers like Haydn and Beethoven but have since developed long-standing relationships with contemporary composers such as Terry Riley and Christopher Rouse as well as Thomas Adès, whose music they have performed and recorded to great acclaim.

While maintaining their roots in the classics, the Calder Quartet have expanded their repertoire in recent years to include more contemporary music, new commissions and collaborations. Music lovers are in for a real treat with this special solo show.

Digital sounds, neon-coloured lighting and minimalist movement combine to create a technologically-charged world controlled by Japanese performer Hiroaki Umeda.

Distortion of time, change of movement and immobility are at the heart of Adapting for Distortion. Engulfed in computer generated sounds and optical effects, Hiroaki Umeda’s body seems to slowly fade away and go out of focus within the luminous lines and spirals, until it is a mere vibration, a shadow of its real self.

In Haptic, Hiroaki Umeda leaves behind computing and video projection to concentrate on the effects of light and colour. Beautiful bright hues shift and morph in relation to Umeda’s fluid movements creating an exquisite visual and sonic experience.

Warning – Loud Music, Strobe Lighting