Programming Set For Adelaide Festival 2027

Adelaide Festival has announced its 42nd program, the second under Artistic Director Matthew Lutton and featuring a total of 54 events from 26 February until 14 March.

Celebrating boundary-pushing art and artistry of the highest calibre, much of it exclusive to Adelaide, the 2027 program is packed with performances and events exploring the light and the dark sides to life, inviting audiences to venture into the otherworldly and celebrate the surreal.

Adelaide Festival Artistic Director Matthew Lutton OAM said: “The 2027 Adelaide Festival promises an adrenaline-fuelled 17 days, bringing exclusively to Adelaide visionary theatre-makers from Brazil, France, Greece and Albania who are defining the new wave of theatre. It also includes awe-inducing opera and dance charged with horror and transcendence, electrifying baroque ensembles, soaring Baltic choirs, film and extraordinary visual art exhibitions, as well as the return of Artists' Week, with every event opening a portal to the extraordinary, the unfamiliar and the unforgettable.”

Minister for Arts Kyam Maher MLC said: “The 2027 Festival presents another program of remarkable scale and ambition, bringing together over 700 artists and including 24 shows exclusive to Adelaide. Audiences will encounter acclaimed International Artists alongside exceptional work from around Australia.

I am especially proud to see so many South Australian artists, companies, galleries and venues contributing to the program in so many ways. Their involvement reflects the depth of creative talent in our state and the Festival's vital role within our cultural sector.”

The complete program is on sale today and joins the three electrifying events announced earlier this year: Romeo Castellucci's Bluebeard's Castle, Barrie Kosky's K. and Robert Icke's Oedipus, all of which wrestle with the notion of uncovering and confronting lies, and the often life-changing outcomes of pursuing the truth.

Bluebeard's Castle

In Bluebeard's Castle, Judith demands that the doors of Bluebeard's domain be opened after their wedding night, to let all his hidden secrets into the light now that their love is binding. In doing so she opens seven chambers not only of the castle, but also into her own psyche, with each revealing a different, often complex, aspect of the self. K. is based on Kafka's well-known novel The Trial, featuring protagonist Joseph K and his constant quest to find the truth underlying his accusation of guilt. Oedipus, a contemporary adaptation of Sophocles' Greek tragedy set on an election night, is the ultimate story of lies and hubris, with the titular character, here a contemporary political leader, dealt the catastrophic blow of learning all in one day the true identities of his mother and father.  

Valentina

Lies becoming reality are a major theme of French-Vietnamese writer/director Caroline Guiela Nguyen's Valentina. As a young girl translating between her mother and her mother's doctor while they wait for a heart transplant, Valentina lies to everyone for their own protection: to her mother about the severity of her condition, and to her teachers about what is happening at home. A joyous contemporary fairy tale of the love between a mother and daughter, Valentina is inspired by the courage of children and the complex truths we carry for those we love.

The Brotherhood: CADELA FORÇA TRILOGY Chapter II

Brazilian artist Carolina Bianchi's The Brotherhood: CADELA FORÇA TRILOGY Chapter II is theatre at its most dangerous and invigorating, inspired by her experience of abuse by a male collaborator. The theatrical (and wider) world is all too familiar with problematic, all-pervasive behaviour from the powerful, untouchable 'male genius', and also with the surrounding brotherhood of unquestioning support from other men. Bianchi confronts this head-on, with eight male collaborators onstage via monologue, dance and song to present a highly satirical, theatrical and intelligent critique that returns fire and will have you questioning the sexual and power dynamics you see playing out around you every day. Can she still admire the great male writers and directors who inspire her, and continue to work with them, or should she advocate for burning the whole system to the ground?

The sheer, goosebump-inducing power of choral music was beautifully evident in Ensemble Pygmalion: one of the highest-praised events in the 2026 Adelaide Festival. In 2027, two other leading international classical ensembles will make their Australian debuts. Firstly, European baroque ensemble il Pomo d'Oro will bring two concerts to Adelaide Town Hall, exposing to audiences the delight of Vivaldi's 17th century Venice featuring virtuosic cellist Giovanni Sollima, and the mighty power of Bach's organ concertos as played by Grammy-nominated organist Cameron Carpenter. Giovanni Sollima will also give a solo performance in Elder Hall.

Bach's music also features in two UKARIA concerts: Belgian violinist Marc Bouchkov and Australian pianist Aura Go, who pay particular attention to his transcendent Partita No. 2 and how it later inspired Beethoven; and by Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt, who thirty years after releasing her first recording of Bach's keyboard partitas, returns to Australia to perform both the work that won her the City of Leipzig Bach Medal alongside sonatas by Scarlatti and Chopin.

The luminous sound of Latvian Voices blends traditional folk songs with exquisite, modern acapella arrangements of pop songs and classical works, in three concerts at Adelaide Town Hall, UKARIA and St Peter's Cathedral. These concerts showcase each of the six singers' voices in ethereal, otherworldly harmonies and spine-tingling solos. Adelaide Chamber Singers will join the ensemble for the final performance at St Peter's Cathedral which will also feature the world premiere of a new work by artistic director Laura Jēkabsone.

The Complete Philip Glass Piano Etudes

Celebrating his 90th birthday in 2027, Philip Glass is widely regarded as one of the most influential contemporary composers of our time, and so it is fitting that The Complete Philip Glass Piano Etudes will see ten master pianists from around the world, paying tribute in one extraordinary evening. Each will bring their distinct interpretations to two pieces before handing over the keys to the next pianist. Featured pianists include Timo Andres, Anton Batagov, Janice Carissa, Aaron Diehl, Luke Howard, Andrea Lam, Lisa Moore, Maki Namekawa, Christian Sands and Sally Whitwell. Anton Batagov will also appear in a solo performance at Elder Hall.

Closer to home, Adelaide University's Elder Conservatorium's faculty artists, Ensemble Lumen, present First Light, featuring Mozart's timeless Clarinet Quintet alongside Ravel's Tzigane and a performance of firm Adelaide Festival favourite, the John Bishop Memorial Commission, which in 2027 has been awarded to Australian composer Alice Chance. Adelaide-based Australian String Quartet joins Melbourne Chamber Orchestra for The Rave and the Nightingale, including the title work by Schubert alongside works by Elgar, Beethoven and former John Bishop Memorial Commission recipient Anne Cawrse with a larger reimagining of her composition A Room of Her Own.  

Eucalyptus

Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the State Opera South Australia Chorus join selected soloists for the concert performance of Eucalyptus composed by Jonathan Mills and with a poetic libretto by Meredith Oakes, based on Murray Bail's Miles Franklin Award-winning novel. Bringing to life the distinctive sounds of the Australian natural and bird world through instrument and voice, Eucalyptus is the story of a widowed father, his beautiful daughter, and the competition to win her hand by naming the hundreds of species of eucalyptus in the woodland he has obsessively created.

Personal family phantoms loom in several works, filing audiences with adrenaline by being unpredictable, seductive and playful and emerging from the unconscious of the onstage characters as part of their healing process. In Belgian dance company Peeping Tom's DIPTYCH: The Missing Door and The Lost Room, two highly physical dance-theatre works are combined into one hair-raising experience with an abundance of thriller and horror genre references. Taking place in either a ship's cabin or a hotel room, hidden fears take physical form as the dancers are pushed to the limit and can only hope to survive the night.

Delighting audiences in 2024 with Goodbye, Lindita, Albanian artist Mario Banushi again brings to light his personal hauntings with Taverna Miresia - Mario, Bella, Anastasia. Inspired by his deceased father's restaurant, the Restaurant of Kindness, Banushi uses wordless song, dance and image to summon the dreams and fantasies of his mother and sisters following his father's funeral. Illuminating memories like a spotlight, alongside the restaurant's actual neon sign onstage, the audience is invited into his dreamlike world, where living joyfully with these phantoms eventually becomes possible.

The Dark Matter of Usulal

State Theatre Company South Australia's The Dark Matter of Usulal sees performer Margaret J Harvey return to the stage for the first time in over a decade, for an intimate performance shaped by the living cosmologies of Torres Strait's Saibai Island, the ancient voices of her ancestors, and her own memories and knowledge of those who came before.

Kumarangk: Sisterhood

Cultural knowledge and storytelling is further explored in Kumarangk: Sisterhood, building upon the 2025 ACE Gallery and Adelaide Festival exhibition detailing the 1990s Ngarrindjeri women's resistance to building the Kumarangk/Hindmarsh Island bridge by adding theatre, song and contemporary dance. Iconic songman, ceremony leader and 2025 Northern Territory Australian of the Year Ngulmiya Nundhirribala brings together the ancient song traditions of Arnhem Land and passionate flamenco music of Catalonia, Spain alongside flamenco guitarist Pau Figueres and a three-piece band in Ngulmiya.

The dance program deliberately focuses on works that offer additional points of intrigue for audiences. Underpinned by Eastern philosophies, China's TAO Dance Theater showcases works 13 & 14 from their repertoire, featuring jaw-dropping synchronicity. In the world premiere of well-known Adelaide dancer and choreographer Larissa McGowan's ShadowSide, two of Australia's most remarkable dancers (Ben Hancock, who appeared as the Demon in Adelaide Festival's 2026 production Mama Does Derby, and Connor MacDonald) are pushed to the edge in order to unpack the many versions of The Self we construct to navigate the world.

Galaxia

Art and technology combine in two works: the celestial, in Dancenorth's Galaxia performed under a canopy of stars integrating new technologies through a collaboration with New York tech artist Andrew Schneider; and the comic, placing four Pony Cam performers on treadmills while they complete a madcap series of artistic and administrative tasks in Burnout Paradise, enlisting willing audience participants' assistance.

Burnout Paradise

Art and technology combine in two works: the celestial, in Dancenorth's Galaxia performed under a canopy of stars integrating new technologies through a collaboration with New York tech artist Andrew Schneider; and the comic, placing four Pony Cam performers on treadmills while they complete a madcap series of artistic and administrative tasks in Burnout Paradise, enlisting willing audience participants' assistance.

Falling Apart Together

Icelandic composer, musician and Tiny Desk performer Ólafur Arnalds makes his Adelaide Festival debut with Falling Apart Together, a daring live experience that blurs the boundaries between concert and shared music ritual featuring a string quartet, percussionist and Arnalds' signature fusion of neoclassical, ambient and contemporary electronics. Experimental Canadian artist Tim Hecker has graced stages from Sydney Opera House to Germany's Kraftwerk and presents a sound deep in the spaces between melody and noise, dissonance and song, on his latest national tour. Australia's Grace Cummings channels her extraordinary voice into songs from her grand 2026 album Bloodhorse! in a bold, lush and at times perversely provocative journey through confessionals, hopes and nightmares.

Start or conclude your night at Adelaide Festival's bespoke free-entry CODA bar, housed on the Festival Plaza, right next to the Festival Theatre. It's the perfect place to unwind with friends, artists and colleagues, with plenty of food and drink on offer alongside a lineup of DJs.

Adelaide Writers' Week returns to the Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden, with new Director Rosemarie Milsom at the helm. Free events include sessions with Li Cunxin, Trent Dalton, Kate Holden, David Leser, Pip Williams, Behrouz Boochani and Meg Mason. The ever-popular events for young people, Secondary Schools Day and Young Readers' Day also take place on the opening weekend.

Ticketed events include Remembering Virginia, featuring Nobody's Girl co-author Amy Wallace; Caro Claire Burke, author of one of 2026's most talked-about books, Yesteryear; legendary Australian women Magda Szubanski (I Can't Tell You, But I Will) and Myf Warhurst (Middle Rage); Randa Abdel-Fattah and Leïla Slimani in conversation with journalist Jan Fran (Between the Lines); bestselling Korean-American author Min Jin Lee; and a new expansion for 2027, Inside Stories, with three events housed at Adelaide Festival Centre's Banquet Room.

The full program of all free and ticketed events will be released in early 2027.

The closing weekend will include the Australian premiere at the Capri Theatre of the debut directorial film by Adelaide's Tilda Cobham-Hervey, in association with Adelaide Film Festival's Investment Fund. It's All Going Very Well…stars Cobham-Hervey as Audrey, an art teacher in an aged care home who forms an unlikely bond with resident Harold (The Crown actor Jonathon Pryce). The connection opens a space for hard-won clarity around grief, friendship, love and the work she has avoided.  

Artists' Week returns in 2027, having first appeared in the 1982 Adelaide Festival. Artists' Week brings together leading artists, writers, curators and thinkers across the city from 26 February until 5 March, inviting audiences to explore a dynamic calendar of free talks, exhibitions, openings and in-conversations.

Samstag Museum of Art will host the Australian premiere of Solitude by Khaled Sabsabi, Australia's representative at the 2026 Venice Biennale. Across moving image, paintings, drawings and installations, Sabsabi explores our societal sense of the collective while questioning ideologies and identity politics in an image-saturated age.

Cockaigne: The Land of Plenty

At Immersive Light and Art (ILA), the world premiere of Sam Leach's Cockaigne: The Land of Plenty takes place in the medieval fantasy land of Cockaigne. Visitors stand between two screens: one displaying a vast AI-generated landscape that shifts between scarcity and excess, the other revealing how the algorithm renders them as data, measuring Collective Mood, Coherence Index and Solidarity. As visions of plenty are offered, Cockaigne reflects a world shaped by invisible systems that monitor, score and influence us, without ever revealing the trade-offs.

Tactile World: Dark Forest

Visitors to ACE Gallery's world premiere of Tactile World: Dark Forest are encouraged to touch all of the works, created by established, emerging, disabled and nondisabled South Australian artists, alongside blind and low vision communities. Formed from deep collaboration, this dark forest combines tactile textile surfaces, integrated olfactory navigation points, vibration, cold and heat, and a spatial soundscape.

The Guildhouse Collections Project – 60 Year Archive

Adelaide Town Hall hosts the third world premiere exhibition, of The Guildhouse Collections Project – 60 Year Archive. Guildhouse possesses an irreplaceable record of South Australia's visual art, craft and design history and the activities, people, groups and organisations who have defined it. This 60th anniversary exhibition is a commission of new work by South Australian artist Nat Penney, known for her practice combining processes from timber furniture making and metal fabrication with found and formed objects, in response to her engagement with the collection.

Floating Worlds: Prints from Osaka and Kyoto

Floating Worlds: Prints from Osaka and Kyoto at the Art Gallery of South Australia explores the pleasure, fashion and cultural life that flourished in Japan's Kamigata region during the Edo period (1603-1868) via traditional full colour woodblock prints, collectively known as Kamigata ukiyo-e or “pictures of the floating world”, depicting kabuki actors, samurai warriors, beauties, the supernatural and landscapes. The exhibition will also feature never-before-seen AGSA acquisitions alongside paintings, kimono and samurai armour.

Ned, Giambattista & a Few Dogs

Kent Town's BMGART Gallery hosts Mark Thompson's Ned, Giambattista & a Few Dogs with influences as diverse as the Kelly Gang, eighteenth-century painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Vivaldi's operas and the Australian bush. Historical figures, theatricality, fantasy and transformation sit alongside an unapologetic embrace of excess, including gold leaf, vivid colour and ornamental detail, informed by Thompson's theatre and opera design career.

within: dhuwi-bray ngaya / I have spirit

Gamilaraay/Gamilaroi artist Juanita McLauchlan will hold her first South Australian exhibition, within: dhuwi-bray ngaya / I have spirit, at the city's beloved JamFactory. Working in the space of reclaimed textiles through bush dyeing, stitching, felting and quilting, McLauchlan will create a large-scale installation of dyed and stitched blankets, silk and possum fur to form an enveloping environment that will wrap, protect and hold visitors to culture and to place.

The World's Festival, WOMADelaide, returns to Botanic Park from 5 – 8 March for a long weekend celebrating an incredible 35 years of music, dance, workshops, talks and much more.

Helmed by Tom Wright, the AF Talks free program will take place all throughout the Festival featuring interviews and pre-show talks with many of the artists and creatives who help bring the program to life.  

Adelaide Festival is committed to making art financially accessible to as many people as possible. Audience members aged under 40 can purchase $40 tickets to the majority of ticketed performances in the program. Discount ticket schemes for those facing a financial barrier include continuing established Festival initiatives Tix for Next to Nix and Pay What You Can, and inclusive equity program for category 1 – 4 schools, Festival Connect.

Become a Festival Friend for access to the best seats in the house, a 15% discount on applicable adult tickets and a range of special offers.