2018 was a big year for the arts in Queensland with a full program of big shows
Queenslanders have been spoilt for choice with a plethora of top-class shows on offer this year, writes arts editor PHIL BROWN
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YOU expect an opera to have drama and Brisbane Festival’s centrepiece had it in spades.
Benjamin Britten’s masterful Peter Grimes was to be festival artistic director David Berthold’s triumph. It was one of the world’s great operas starring the man most famous for the lead role, Australian superstar heldentenor Stuart Skelton, who had jetted in for the occasion. But on opening night on September 20 things began to unravel.
We noticed Skelton’s voice straining and thought it was jet lag.
When Berthold took the stage during interval we knew something was amiss.
Skelton was ill, he told us, and would walk through the role with understudy Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts singing.
So the show went on with a mute star. Talk about high drama. Luckily the next performance was two nights later, which gave Skelton a chance to recover from a pollen allergy that affected his throat. Damn spring in Brisbane!
So his final show went ahead as planned and he gave the performance of his life. Talk about a happy ending.
The Brisbane Festival is usually the biggest arts event of the year and it was a cracker again this year. Crowds headed to The Courier-Mail Spiegeltent to see Strut & Fret’s latest creation, Life The Show, which was the festival’s big hit.
But earlier in the year we had an arts event to rival Brisbane Festival and it was statewide. The Queensland Government threw more than $20 million at Festival 2018, the arts and cultural program of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, and many say Festival 2018 was better than the sport.
It was held on the Gold Coast, in Brisbane and in Cairns and Townsville with concerts, performances and pop-up art events.
My favourite? Holoscenes, by Lars Jan and Early Morning Opera, from the US, a performance in a large fish tank set up on the Surfers Paradise beachfront. In the tank performers went about their daily lives as the waters rose and fell and the audience looked on, agog.
The year in visual arts was crowned by the opening of APT9 at QAGOMA last month, which is, so everyone’s saying, the best APT so far. My pick of so many fantastic exhibits is Lisa Reihana’s extraordinary 25m video art work entitled I n Pursuit of Venus (infected), which is showing upstairs at GOMA.
The most controversial show of the year was also at GOMA. Patricia Piccinini: Curious Affection featured her weird human-animal hybrid sculptures and while many were fascinated others were repelled and said so.
There were many treats musically in 2018 and Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Camerata and Southern Cross Soloists were all on fire. Alondra de la Parra’s appearances with QSO pulled in big crowds and her Mahler 3concert was world-class. One of my favourite musical experiences came and went in a night. I refer to the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra’s Karakorum: A Medieval Musical Journey, featuring French medieval world folk ensemble La Camera delle Lacrime. It was a musical journey following a 13th century monk along the famed Silk Road with narration by Australian actor David Wenham. It was worth the price of admission just to see Wenham in a cassock channelling William of Rubruck.
Emotionally, however, the experience that resonated for me was The Longest Minute, a Queensland Theatre-led collaborative production about the North Queensland Cowboys’ 2015 grand final win. Who thought that would make a play? Well it did and it played Cairns, Townsville, Rockhampton and Brisbane and everyone loved it. It was like winning the grand final all over again, although it could have been a bit painful for Broncos fans.
Up north The Cairns Indigenous Art Fair had another splendid year. In Townsville, The Australian Festival of Chamber Music proved that not everything happens in the southeast.
On the Gold Coast, HOTA (Home of the Arts) came on to the arts scene with a bang and featured some amazing concerts, including Tim Minchin and Laurie Anderson.
And speaking of great venues, Queensland Theatre launched one; its revamped Bille Brown Theatre. It was opened with David Williamson’s play Nearer The Gods, which was a triumph. You couldn’t wipe the smiles off the faces of QT’s artistic director Sam Strong and Williamson, who was on hand with wife Kristin for the world premiere of his latest.
QPAC’s spectacular 2018 International Series last month rounded off the year nicely, featuring Teatro alla Scala Ballet company from Milan, Italy. It presented two ballets, Don Quixote and Giselle. If you were there for either ballet you will never forget the experience.
STAGE
Double Bill : Carmen & The Firebird, May 25 to June 3, Playhouse, QPAC.
Queensland Ballet is on fire and these two fiery ballets were a highlight this year. Carlos Acosta’s Carmen was suitably steamy while Liam’ Scarlett’s Firebird, featuring the music of Stravinsky was nothing short of world class.
Beautiful : The Carole King Musical, July 13 to Sept 2, Lyric Theatre, QPAC. The story of American singer Carole King proved to be the most engaging musical this year. It was a wonderful story and Esther Hannaford was mind-boggling good in the lead role.
The Longest Minute, May 2-12 Cairns; May 17-19 Townsville, Townsville, June 28 Rockhampton, May 26 – June 23, Cremorne Theatre, QPAC. This collaboration between Queensland Theatre, debase productions and JUTE Theatre company told the story of the North Queensland Cowboys sensational 2015 grand final win. Watching it was like reliving the glory all over again.
Nearer The Gods, October 6 to November 3. Bille Brown Theatre.
What better way to open Queensland Theatre’s new Bille Brown Theatre than with the world premiere of adopted Queenslander David Williamson’s latest play? But would a play about English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian and author Sir Isaac Newton entertain a modern audience? Damn straight. It was a triumph.
QPAC 2018 International Series: Don Quixote and Giselle, Sept 7 to 18, Lyric Theatre, QPAC
Teatro alla Scala Ballet Company from Milan, Italy came a long way and it wasn’t in vain. Their Don Quixote, choreographed by the great Rudolph Nureyev was brilliant and their Giselle was so beautiful it bought some people to tears.
MUSIC
Concert for Dogs, June 24, Home of the Arts (HOTA), Surfers Paradise.
Acclaimed experimental American musician Laurie Anderson (widow of the late great Lou Reed) had done this concert in New York and Sydney and during her residency at HOTA on the Gold Coast she assembled dog lovers and their pooches for a unique music experience.
Australian Festival of Chamber Music, July 26 to August 4, Townsville.
For her first stint as this amazing festival’s artistic director Kathryn Stott assembled musicians from all over the world. Artists at this year’s festival included Chinese master Sheng player Wu Tong, Argentinian Bandonéon player JP Jofre, Norwegian violist Lars Anders Tomter and Norwegian trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth, among others. All roads led to Townsville, for a little while at least.
Peter Grimes, Sept 20 and 22, Concert Hall, QPAC.
This opera by Benjamin Britten was the centrepiece of the Brisbane Festival and despite the hiccup with heldentenor Stuart Skelton on opening night it was a transformative experience for anyone serious about opera.
Alondra Conducts Mahler 3, Nov 24, Concert Hall, QPAC.
To witness Mexican superstar conductor Alondra de la Parra, music director of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in action is always a treat and her performance was as dazzling as her orchestra’s. Mezzo-soprano Lilli Paasikivi was special guest and The Children’s and Women’s Chorus from Voices of Birralee charmed us all.
I left My Heart in Highgate Hill, Nov 25, Brisbane Powerhouse.
Local muso and music guru Sean Sennett’s album of songs set in Brisbane is genius and the fact they are all sung by female vocalists from his home town is special. This concert of the album featured Jackie Marshall, Deb Suckling, Sue Ray, Charlotte Emily, Shelley Evans, Lucinda Shaw and others and was an absolute ripper.
EXHIBITIONS
Michael Cook, Invasion, Andrew Baker Art Dealer Feb 21 to March 3.
This Queensland indigenous artist is now internationally renowned and his latest photographic series was his most daring – incredible staged photos with a retro theme depicting an alien invasion of London complete with Aboriginal fembots.
Mixed Blood: Contemporary indigenous Cultural Expression, April 4 – 15, Cairns Art Gallery.
This exhibition was part of Festival 2018, the cultural program of the Commonwealth Games and it featured the work of ten Cairns-based artists from Pacific countries. It symbolised how the indigenous people of Cairns today have a vibrant, rich and varied cultural perspective.
Mao’s Last Dancer The Exhibition: A Portrait of Li Cunxin, Museum of Brisbane, Dec 1 2017 to 29 April.
Li Cunxin is now artistic director of the Queensland Ballet and his life story is an amazing one as told in his memoir Mao’s Last Dancer, a Hollywood film of the same name and this amazing exhibition which kicked off the year at the wonderful Museum of Brisbane.
Fred Williams, June 5 to 30, Philip Bacon galleries, Brisbane.
The landscapes of Fred Williams are the Holy Grail of Australian painting and this amazing showing of works from his estate blew art lovers away. The most magisterial of them, Forest Pond 1974, sold to an anonymous Queensland collector for nearly $3 million.
The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT9), QAGOMA, Nov 24 until April 28
This may be the best APT9 yet. It has plenty for the heart and the mind with some stunning work. Lisa Reihana’s amazing 25 metre video work In Pursuit of Venus (infected), which looks like a moving painting, is utterly amazing.
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