Len Brown launches Auckland Arts Festival with a song

Auckland Arts Festival
March 2 - 20

Following an inspiring waiata from Mayor Len Brown the Artistic Director David Malacari last night launched the programme for the next year’s biennial Auckland Arts Festival which takes place 2-20 March. It features a great line-up of theatre, dance, music, film, visual arts and special events that brings the world’s best to Auckland with a festival which looks to be more than just a poor cousin to Wellington’s festival..
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“Our Festival programme celebrates the infinite possibilities of the human imagination, the thrill of discovery, and the excitement of travel to exotic places – both in this world, and in the worlds of creativity, ideas and dreams,” says Malacari.

A line-up of international artists will bring their creative worlds to Auckland next March. There is a concert of authentic Rajasthani music, a performance of Vietnamese Water Puppets, and Taiwanese drumming with martial arts and meditation.

International music stars Martha Wainwright, Paul Kelly, jazz legend Jack DeJohnette, the virtuoso baroque ensemble, Lautten Compagney, and a special programme of Asian classical works will satisfy music lovers of all persuasions.

One of the Festival’s hottest tickets will be Smoke & Mirrors, starring iOTA, the all-new show from Sydney Festival and the producers of 2007 and 2009 sell-out sensation La Clique. A hit of the international festival circuit, Smoke & Mirrors will be performed in the Pacific Crystal Palace Spiegeltent.
International theatre includes spectacular Gaff Aff, the wonderful La Odisea, an exceptional piece of Bolivian theatre, and acclaimed solo shows from Irish actor Conor Lovett and brilliant storyteller-comedian Daniel Kitson.

There will be a strong international dance programme with FranceDanse, a showcase of five French contemporary dance works including Maguy Marin’s iconic piece May B, alongside brand new work Salves.

New Zealand’s most exciting companies, including a major Festival commission from choreographer Douglas Wright, rapt. Warren Maxwell, SJD, Che Fu, Teremoana Rapley and eight other leading Kiwi music acts perform a remarkable concert of original songs, with lyrics written by Witi Ihimaera.

Red Leap Theatre Company, creators of 2009 Festival hit The Arrival, present their new work, Paper Sky – A Love Story, and Leon Radojkovic and Oliver Driver are the creative talents behind multi- dimensional festival extravaganza Live Live Cinema: Carnival of Souls.

Massive Company presents a new work Havoc in the Garden, and the dynamic young dancers from Black Grace’s Urban YOUTHMovement perform Who Are You?

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Auckland Philharmonia stage special Festival concerts, and NZ Opera presents Handel’s Xerxes.

A popular gathering point during March 2011 will be the Festival Garden, a temporary multi-venue hub constructed in the newly redesigned Aotea Square precinct. During the Festival, the Garden will be home to the Pacific Crystal Palace Spiegeltent, the venue for Smoke & Mirrors and other late night entertainment, an outdoor auditorium and miniature lake for the Vietnamese Water Puppets.

The Festival Garden is also the heart of the Festival’s Family Day, on Sunday 13 March, part of the special programming for children and their families that is a popular feature of Auckland Arts Festival.

New to Auckland Arts Festival in 2011 is the inaugural White Night event of the Asia Pacific region. White Night is a celebration of arts and culture, where galleries and museums stay open late into the night.

Visual art stars Sarah Lucas (of Young British Artists fame) and Mexico’s Héctor Zamora will travel to Auckland to present their work.

www.aucklandfestival.co.nz.