Adelaide Festival 2018 to Open with The Lost and Found Orchestra

Adelaide Festival will start with an unforgettable bang, striking a percussive beat into the heart of the night as Elder Park comes alive in a spectacular symphonic event by The Lost and Found Orchestra. Created by the team that brought you STOMP, this fully immersive musical and visual experience will entertain and delight the family with a performance created especially for Adelaide audiences.

Hundreds of local and international musicians will play everyday objects transformed into a mass of invented instruments, in a performance that will extend beyond the stage. The Lost and Found Orchestra recreates every section of a symphony orchestra to produce a beautiful score of tribal rhythms, haunting sounds and an orchestral celebration from a seemingly chaotic ensemble.

"The Lost and Found Orchestra will be unlike anything Adelaide audiences have seen - setting the tone for the 2018 program and making it the perfect opening act for the Adelaide Festival. Like a Dr Seuss orchestra coming to life, this performance embraces imagination, crash-tackles inventiveness, and turns up the dial on creativity. It will challenge what you think you know about musical instruments and is sure to be the best value family entertainment you'll see in a long time," said Joint-Artistic Directors, Neil Armfield and Rachel Healy.

Originally created as a commission for Brighton Festival in 2006, the orchestra was formed over a six month period before sell-out performances around the world. Instruments were invented and reinvented from scratch using musical saws, bottles, whirly toys, water coolers and traffic cones, and an entire score composed. Scaled up for the 2018 Adelaide Festival as an outdoor extravaganza in collaboration with Australia's master of spectacle Nigel Jamieson (Sydney Olympics Opening, How To Train Your Dragon), this bespoke performance will involve a vast array of local musicians, community bands and percussive musicians in a project that has taken months to fine tune.

"It is a privilege to bring The Lost and Found Orchestra to Adelaide in 2018 - to be able to return to this world-famous arts festival with a huge show that will involve the whole community is a dream come true," said The Lost and Found Orchestra's creator, Luke Cresswell.

What begins with simple melodies plucked, blown, thumped and brushed into life, will end in a complex symphonic and choral celebration. Combining a dazzling array of homemade instruments, classical musicians, physical comedians and aerialists, The Lost and Found Orchestra will be a night to remember.

adelaidefestival.com.au