In just over three weeks, Adelaide will once again become a melting pot of arts and culture as Julia Zemiro makes her debut as Artistic Director of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. “Escape to be seen” is this year’s theme and the diverse lineup promises the perfect escapism through entertainment that is set to challenge, provoke, and engage its audiences.
The 2019 program boasts more than 380 artists in 245 performances over 16 days and nights. Featuring classic and contemporary cabaret, Adelaide will host 17 Adelaide exclusives, 17 Adelaide premieres and 7 national premieres by Australian and International artists from Germany, Sweden, USA, Ireland, New Zealand, and the UK.
“If you love all things shiny, it’s there. If you love to laugh, or reminisce and hear a dark story, it’s there. If you love a big bold stand-alone main event, it’s absolutely there!”
– Julia Zemiro, Artistic Director
Some of the big names listed in this year’s festival are: headliner and German chanteuse Ute Lemper, Adelaide’s favourite son David Campbell, theatre star Philip Quast, Australian singer-songwriter Kate Miller-Heidke, Australian pop star and Eurovision royalty Dami Im, and Grammy-award-winning powerhouse vocalist Ms Lisa Fischer.
This year’s opening night event at the Thebarton Theatre is sure to please. The House is Live will feature festival favourites Meow Meow, Paul Capsis, Reuben Kaye, Mitchell Butel and Queenie van de Zandt alongside emerging cabaret stars including lead singer of Saskwatch, Nkechi Anele, award-winning rapper, poet and author Omar Musa, and jazz chanteuse Alma Zygier.
A new late-night club, The 11 O’Clock Number at The Famous Spiegeltent, will feature a different cabaret star each weekend, including international superstar Hans, Julia Zemiro as Eurobeat character Bronya, and vaudevillian duo Hot Gin Punch. The club kicks off at 11.00 pm with a DJ and dancing until 2.00 am.
As a tribute to Adelaide Cabaret Festival’s founding father, Frank Ford, the first Frank Ford Commissioning Award will see Amelia Ryan and Libby O’Donovan perform Unsung – telling the stories of female singers of the 1960s. The award provides $20,000 a year towards the creation of new works by South Australian artists, and it will continue to help mentor and nurture emerging cabaret talent for years to come.
Celebrating its 10th Anniversary, the Class of Cabaret program returns to showcase the cabaret stars of tomorrow.
To make the festival even more accessible there are free events including: the LGBTI+ Elders Dance Club by All the Queens Men held on the Queen’s Birthday at The Famous Spiegeltent, free roving entertainment at the QBE Cabaret Lounge in the Festival Theatre foyer, and Trevor Jones returns to the Quartet Bar with a new talk series over three weekends exploring the life of a cabaret artist, politics in cabaret and the process of story-telling.
Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2019 opens on June 7 and runs until June 22. Full program and tickets at BASS 131 246 or via the Adelaide Cabaret Festival website.
