Tuesday, December 21, 2010

What's Happening At The Sydney Festival Each Year In January

By Fraser Brown


Every January, Sydney transforms into a spectacle as the Sydney Festival kicks into gear. The festival runs for almost a month and puts on a wide variety of shows, performances and events throughout the city, many of which are free.

The festival is famous for drawing large crowds to the city with many arriving from interstate or around the world, coming to see the different cultural events. The starting event of the festival is a big outdoor concert with dancing, art, music and an atmosphere that annually draws about 1 million people to the center of Sydney. This is just the start of impressive cultural events put on all over Sydney

Variety is the main target of the festival and each year the program includes a broad spectrum of performances. You can find all kinds of things served up including circuses, dance of all descriptions, indigenous music, mime, drama and much more. Around the city there are around 300 presentations, and more than 80 events with over 1000 distinct performers.

The events that are staged are free, or at very affordable price so that they are accessible to as many people as possible. Some of the most popular program inclusions of the festival are the free open air concerts that are put on in Sydney's botanical gardens. During these outdoor concerts the Sydney Symphony Orchestra often take part as well as international artists presenting their talents.

The festival has been operating for more than three decades and in this time it has come to be an important event on the Sydney events calendar. There is a deliberately "Sydney" feel to the event and when you visit you will get a real taste of mixture of cultures, people and talents that are residing within the city. As well as the best local acts, there are also international performers that come to show off their talents and wow audiences each year in summer. In the past some of these international acts have included: Elvis Costello, Bjork, Grace Jones, Ralph Fiennes, Peter Sellers and Sir Ian McKellen.

The Sydney Festival is a highly regarded and essential part of contemporary Australian arts, performance and culture. It is not uncommon for some of the events included in the artistic festival program to be world premieres of drama, art, music or dance from some of the world's most revered artists. Generally you can find premieres of many artistic endeavors, which will tour Australia or internationally after their run in Sydney.

Summer in Sydney is an energetic and enigmatic time when you can kick back on the beaches, relax in outdoor cafes, soak up the sun and lap up the bolt of energy pulsing through the city when the mercury rises in the warmer months. You can combine this steamy summer season with the Sydney Festival and have a great time seeing the city at its most enigmatic.

If you want to experience a completely different art and culture that exists in Sydney, then the best time is in the midst of the three weeks at the beginning of the year when the Sydney Festival is in action. There is such a vast amount of cultural delights to experience that you will find a lot of programs that interest you as well as getting to see Sydney at its glittering summer time best. Find out what is on the next program and start planning your trip as soon as possible.




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