In many ways it seems as if Olivia Ansell’s whole life has been preparing her to become artistic director of the Sydney Festival. Her great-grandfather and grandfather were both circus masters, her maternal grandmother was an opera singer and performer on the Tivoli circuit, and her paternal grandmother was a classical violinist.

The next generation was in the arts, too. Ansell’s father was a jazz musician and composer, responsible for the ABC’s TV news theme from 1985 onwards, among other compositions, and her mother was a choreographer, dancer and dance teacher.