Festival in full swing

The University of Adelaide is making a major contribution to the state's two biggest arts events in 2010, the Adelaide Fringe and Adelaide Festival.

Throughout both festivals, the University is being used as a performance and rehearsal space for a number of key events.

Meanwhile, staff, students, graduates and volunteers of the University of Adelaide are all playing their role in ensuring that South Australia continues to live up to its reputation as the Festival State.

Both festivals officially conclude on Sunday 14 March.

Here are just some of the main events the University is involved in this month:

NORTHERN LIGHTS

Hugely popular in 2008, once again the city's historic architectural icons on North Terrace will be painted with light and coloured with life.

Three of the University of Adelaide's buildings will again be featured in this display - Mitchell Building, Elder Hall and Bonython Hall - demonstrating their importance to the city and the cultural life of Adelaide.

THE SAPPHIRES

Through the hot hits of Motown, The Sapphires traces the ups and downs of showbiz and family, following four wide-eyed girls on their journey of discovery from Melbourne to the Mekong amidst the love, sex and war of the swinging sixties.

Winner in 2005 of two Helpmann Awards for Best Play and Best New Australian Work.

WRITERS' WEEK

This year's Writers' Week is dedicated to author Thomas Shapcott, who was the inaugural Chair of the University of Adelaide's Creative Writing program. The week features a dedication to Shapcott and includes launches of two of his books.

Meanwhile, current University of Adelaide staff feature prominently in the program, with the Head of Creative Writing, Professor Brian Castro, taking part in a panel discussion on "Writers as Readers" and also in a "Meet the Author" event. Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing Jill Jones will also take part in a panel discussion on poetry.

Graduates of the University's Creative Writing program continue to be strongly represented at Writers' Week on panels, through book launches and in award nominations, while two international authors, Emily Perkins (New Zealand) and Jim Crace (UK), will deliver seminars to University of Adelaide students during their stay in Adelaide.

MAHLER 8 - SYMPHONY OF A THOUSAND

The Director of the University of Adelaide's Elder Conservatorium of Music, Associate Professor Carl Crossin, is the Chorus Director for this audacious finale to the 50th anniversary Adelaide Festival.

The event features the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, backed by a phalanx of massed choirs from across Australia, plus eight international soloists.

The University of Adelaide's Elder Hall has played an all-important role as a rehearsal space for the choirs involved in this major musical event.

WOMADelaide

Arguably Australia's best big music festival, each year WOMADelaide receives special attention from the University of Adelaide's community radio station, Radio Adelaide (101.5fm).

Radio Adelaide sends out special WOMADelaide broadcasts to community and indigenous radio listeners right round the country, and to online listeners anywhere in the world.

The live-to-air broadcast is the centrepiece, and this year Radio Adelaide has three live-
to-air shows: 6.30pm-8.30pm on 6, 7 and
8 March.

For more details and for online coverage visit: www.womadelaidelive.com

DUALITIES

The University's historic home of music, Elder Hall, will host a remarkable, dual series of concerts - with one series at Lunchtime and another at Twilight.

The 1.00pm Lunchtime concerts feature Margaret Blades (violin) and David Lockett (piano); the Zephyr Quartet and Greta Bradman (soprano); Igor Machlak and Olga Kharitonova (piano duo); Marshall Maguire (harp) and Genevieve Lacey (recorder).

The 6.00pm Twilight concerts - known as Illuminations of the Heart - feature Lucinda Moon (violin) with Linda Kent (harpsichord and organ); Tommie Andersson (theorbo); Catherine Finnis (viola da gamba) and the Turkish Classical musicians of the Nefes Ensemble.

www.elderhall.adelaide.edu.au

FLIGHT

The Australian String Quartet (ASQ) opens its 2010 season with a performance as part of the official Adelaide Festival program, featuring the superb musicianship of pianist Lucinda Collins (pictured).

The ASQ is Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Adelaide's Elder Conservatorium of Music, while Lucinda Collins is this year in her 20th year at the University.

The concert features works by Haydn, Stanhope and Brahms. A Festival Talk will be given prior to the concert at 6.10pm.

www.asq.com.au

Other events include:

RADIO ADELAIDE - THE BIG F

The Big F this year bumps up to more than 50 hours of dedicated coverage of the Adelaide Festival, Fringe, Garden of Unearthly Delights, Writers' Week, WOMAD and Future Music Festival.

The Big F takes over the airwaves from 15 February-6 March on: Breakfast with Peter Godfrey (8.40am weekdays); The Range (4.00pm-5.30pm weekdays); and Arts Breakfast (9.00am-11.00am Saturdays).

www.radio.adelaide.edu.au

LONDON SINFONIETTA

Flutist Michael Cox from the London Sinfonietta (also Principal Flute of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and St Martin-in-the-Fields) held a masterclass with flute students Melanie Walters, Anna Cooper, Helen Seppelt and Nicole Pearce.

Michael will also run a masterclass for Adelaide flute students in London during a trip to London and Paris in January 2011.

For more information about the Adelaide Fringe and Adelaide Festival, including full details of performances and ticketing, visit:
www.adelaidefringe.com.au
www.adelaidefestival.com.au