Dusty Lee Stephensen makes solo debut at Adelaide Guitar Festival
Wanderers frontman Dusty Lee Stephensen will premiere his upcoming solo material as part of Adelaide Guitar Festival.
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Wanderers rocker Dusty Lee Stephensen will revert to his birth name of Dustyn – and an occasional acoustic instrument – for this month’s Adelaide Guitar Festival.
Stephenson will premiere Dustyn, his first solo project, backed by a 10-piece band including a string quartet with arrangements by The Cat Empire’s Ross Irwin, at the Dunstan Playhouse on Sunday, September 15.
“It’s the debut of the stuff that’s probably dearest to me … it comes from a bit more of a personal, deeper part of my soul,” Stephenson says.
Dustyn’s first single, Right Where You Are, will be released next week, leading up to a solo EP titled Midnight Movements early next year.
His concert will also feature fresh interpretations of songs by his blues-rock band Wanderers, other material that Stephensen has never performed before, and a couple of surprise covers.
Some of the new material was written and performed on a nylon-string acoustic guitar, like the first one he owned as a six-year-old.
“It’s also why I’ve chosen to go back to the name Dustyn … because something about it feels very youthful and untainted.”
Stephenson will also present his regular Dusty Lee’s Blues Jam at Memphis Slim’s as part of the festival’s Guitars in Bars program, which returns with 25 gigs at venues in the city and suburbs from September 16-28.
The festival gets underway on September 12, with performances by 82-year-old Spanish flamenco icon Paco Pena at Her Majesty’s Theatre and Australian blues musician Jeff Lang at the Dunstan Playhouse, and runs until September 29.
Guitar Festival artistic director Slava Grigoryan will perform Mark Knopfler’s score for The Princess Bride live with an orchestra during screenings of the film at the Festival Theatre on September 28-29.
Full program at adelaideguitarfestival.com.au
AGELESS BEAUTY WINS $25,000 KENNEDY PRIZE
Spanish-Australian artist Amaya Iturri has won Adelaide’s $25,000 Kennedy Prize for works on the theme of beauty with a colourful painting which portrays old age as vibrant and enriching.
Prize co-ordinator Mark Kennedy said Iturri’s work was a “fantastic” way to celebrate the competition’s 10th year.
“Bold vibrant colours reinforce the beauty of enjoying life, at any age. Standing in front of the work you are encapsulated by serenity and a profound sense of being,” Mr Kennedy said.
Melbourne-based Iturri said her work, titled The Beauty of Now, challenged negative stereotypes.
“The painting emphasises the value of this life stage and encouraging embracing the present, honouring the past, and looking forward with optimism, against ageism”, Iturri said.
The $5000 Nyland Prize for photography was won by Victorian Alan Moyle for his black-and-white portrait of Australian comedian, singer and writer Reuben Kaye.
Finalists in both prizes are on display at the Royal South Australian Society of Arts in the State Library Institute Building until September 22.
CURTAIN SET TO FALL ON SLINGSBY THEATRE IN 2026
Internationally acclaimed South Australian family theatre company Slingsby will close down after 20 years, with its final production set to premiere at the Adelaide Festival in 2026.
Slingsby co-founder, artistic director and chief executive Andy Packer said that difficulty securing long-term federal and state funding contributed to the decision.
“This precarious and highly competitive process prevents reliable planning, and stifles our capacity to be the brave, rigorous and distinctive creative voice we are committed to being,” Mr Packer said.
The company’s final work, A Concise Compendium of Wonder, is described as an “epic project” which consists of three parts and is planned to tour Australia and overseas after its Adelaide premiere.
“This will be our final chapter, and if crafted well, it will leave a resonant legacy,” Mr Packer said.
Since it was founded in 2007, Slingsby has created 11 full-scale productions, including the Ruby Award winners Man Covets Bird, The Young King and The Boy Who Talked to Dogs, and the Helpmann Award winning Emil and the Detectives, along with smaller projects and collaborations.
Its works have toured to 13 countries across Asia, North America, Europe, UK,
Scandinavia and the Pacific.
Arts Minister Andrea Michaels said Slingsby had delighted audiences at home and abroad
with its “truly unique, emotional and empathetic” productions.
“While it will be sad to see the final curtain fall, the State Government is proud to have supported Slingsby over nearly two decades,” Ms Michaels said.
Slingsby’s chairwoman Penny Griggs said the company had built an “enviable international reputation”.
“We also have the support of incredible donors, yet there is the need to continuously seek further funding,” Ms Griggs said.
WHALE OF A WINNING SHOT
A drone image of two humpback whales “bubble-net” feeding has won the 2024 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition, which is on display at the South Australian Museum from Saturday.
The winning shot, titled Bubble-net, was captured by WA photographer and tour operator Scott Portelli on a sailing expedition to Antarctica last year.
“There was one day where the weather was shifting between overcast and snowing,” Mr Portelli said.
“I sat and watched these whales bubble-netting for about six hours, but trying to capture that moment when they break the surface came down to persistence and timing.”
Humpback whales co-operate to create streams of bubbles which disorient and corral schools of small fish, which they then feed on by swimming up with open mouths.
As the overall winner, Mr Portelli – who also won the 2021 competition with an image of a leafy sea dragon at Second Valley – receives $10,000 and a holiday.
Among the 10 other category winners were SA’s David Dahlenburg, for a portfolio depicting dams used to store mining tailings, and Adelaide’s Maya Hughes, 14, who won the junior section with her picture of a pelican’s delicate head and neck feathers.
The exhibition of all 91 finalists is at the SA Museum from Saturday until November 3.
2024 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year winners
Overall winner: Bubble-net, Scott Portelli (WA)
Animals in Nature: Emperor’s Rule, Wayne Sorensen (Qld)
Aerial: Angel Wings, Tim Burgess (ACT)
Astrophotography: Rainbow Valley – Valley of the Stars, Brody Gamble (NT)
Threatened Species: Teen Spirit, Richard Robinson (NZ)
Our Impact: Unseen 22, Matthew Bagley (Vic)
Landscape: Aurum, Benjamin Alldridge (Tas)
Macro: Symmetry of Lurking, Adam Javorcík (Slovakia)
Monochrome: Light Through the Darkness, Beth Baker (WA)
Runner-up: Inspection, Charles Davis (NSW)
Portfolio: Grotesque Beauty, David Dahlenburg (SA)
Junior: Elegance, Maya Hughes (SA)
LANDMARK SHOWS ANNOUNCED FOR 2025 ADELAIDE FESTIVAL
A new Finnish opera staged on a two-storey revolving set, and landmark works by German choreographer Pina Bausch and Australian Dance Theatre will be among highlights of the 2025 Adelaide Festival program.
Set in Helsinki, the opera Innocence is directed by Australia’s Simon Stone and takes place at a wedding reception, with the performers moving between multiple rooms over different levels.
New Zealand baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes will join an international cast for the production, in which the groom is recognised as the brother of a gunman responsible for a school shooting that took place a decade earlier.
Festival artistic director Brett Sheehy said all three works, which are now on sale ahead of the full 2025 program launch on November 4, represented “extraordinary artistic achievements”.
The late Bausch’s work Cafe Müller is set to arias by Henry Purcell, and will be paired with pieces by Tanztheater Wuppertal’s current artistic director Boris Charmatz in a program titled Club Amour.
Adelaide based ADT will mark its 60th anniversary with the world premiere of its artistic director Daniel Riley’s work A Quiet Language, which takes inspiration from the “fearlessness” of company founder Elizabeth Cameron Dalman.
“This is a work that celebrates our ongoing connection to identity, culture and country here on Kaurna Yerta,” Riley said.
A Quiet Language is at the Odeon Theatre from February 26 to March 5, Innocence at the Festival Theatre from February 28 to March 5, and Club Amour at Festival Theatre from March 10-16.
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