The best art, culture and shows in February
Stepping out of a summer of leisure and into the swing of the new year, here are our must-see top picks for February, from a ballet under the stars to a love letter to Notre-Dame.
Stepping out of a summer of leisure and into the swing of the new year, here are our must-see top picks for February, from a ballet under the stars to a love letter to Notre-Dame.
Under the stars
In association with the highly coveted Perth Festival, the West Australian Ballet brings the Australian premiere of Metamorphosis to audiences under the night sky. Staged within Perth’s charming Quarry Amphitheatre, world-acclaimed British choreographer David Dawson brings to life, through the beauty of dance, a five-part story of finding light, hope and humanity in the darkness. Showing in the Perth Festival from February 9 - March 9.
Mozart reimagined
The first performance of Mozart’s Idomeneo at the Munich Residenz owed much of its success to its intricate set design depicting Crete shortly after the Trojan War. Similarly, Opera Australia’s upcoming adaptation of this epic opera presents a uniquely immersive experience with projections of rugged and sublime Australian landscapes to complement the dramatic plight of its protagonists. Running from February 20 to March 15 at Sydney Opera House.
Moving pictures
Ukraine-born and Melbourne-raised multidisciplinary artist Stanislava Pinchuk has developed an international following for her exploration of changing war and conflict landscapes. Her new three-channel video work, The Theatre of War, will be presented at Melbourne’s Australian Centre for the Moving Image. Drawing on Homer’s Illiad, Pinchuk unravels the complexity of contemporary conflict by using ancient storytelling traditions. On show from February 19 to June 9.
Musical innovation
The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra commemorates eight centuries of the iconic Notre-Dame cathedral in this innovative production. Helpmann Award-winning writer-director Alana Valentine centres Notre-Dame around a libretto performed by two actors, with support from orchestral and choral music found in the cathedral’s historical archives. With the physical restoration of Notre-Dame still in progress, this production is a moving celebration of the cathedral’s cultural influence on the western world. Showing in Melbourne from February 22-25 and in Sydney from February 27 to March 2.
Contemporary icon
One of Australia’s leading contemporary galleries, Sydney-based Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, will have its extensive 40 year archive chronicled in their latest publication. Through essays, photography, and features from artists, curators and philanthropists, this book pays homage to the evolution of the gallery and the careers it has fostered – including Patricia Piccinini, Tracey Moffatt, Del Kathryn Barton and Gareth Samson. Available for purchase from February 14.
Swan song
Renowned author of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and In Cold Blood, Truman Capote sent himself to an early grave when publishing “La Côte Basque, 1965”, an exposé of Manhattan high society’s dark side. Now, the roman á clef that broke down relations between Capote and his circle of socialite ‘swans’ is being given the Hollywood treatment by Ryan Murphy in the new limited series Feud: Capote v The Swans. Streaming on Binge from February 1.
This story appears in the February issue of WISH Magazine, on sale Friday February 2.