Melbourne International Arts Festival, formerly Spoleto Festival Melbourne – Festival of the Three Worlds, then Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, becoming commonly known as Melbourne Festival, was a major international arts festival held in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

, Australia, from 1986 to 2019. It was to be superseded by a new festival called Rising from 2020 (which was subsequently derailed by the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 January ...

History

Names

Spoleto Melbourne – Festival of the Three Worlds, under the direction of composer

Gian Carlo Menotti Gian Carlo Menotti (, ; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian composer, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept ...

, was established in 1986 by the

Cain Cain ''Káïn''; ar, قابيل/قايين, Qābīl/Qāyīn is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He is the elder brother of Abel, and the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, the first couple within the Bible. He ...

government, as a sister festival of the

Festival dei Due Mondi The ''Festival dei Due Mondi'' (Festival of the Two Worlds) is an annual summer music and opera festival held each June to early July in Spoleto, Italy, since its founding by composer Gian Carlo Menotti in 1958. It features a vast array of conc ...

Spoleto Spoleto (, also , , ; la, Spoletum) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome. History Sp ...

and the

Spoleto Festival USA Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of America's major performing arts festivals. It was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Due ...

held in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

. The festival changed its name to the Melbourne International Festival of the Arts in 1990. It then became known as Melbourne International Arts Festival from 2003, becoming commonly known as Melbourne Festival. The Festival was later renamed Melbourne International Arts Festival, which it retained until 2019.

Directors

It has had a number of high-profile artistic directors, including Clifford Hocking,

Leo Schofield Leo George Schofield (born 6 May 1935) is an Australian restaurant critic, contributing a weekly column in ''The Mercury''. Schofield has served a long career as an advertising professional, journalist, creative arts festival director, and tr ...

Robyn Archer Robyn Archer, AO, CdOAL (born 1948) is an Australian singer, writer, stage director, artistic director, and public advocate of the arts, in Australia and internationally. Life Archer was born Robyn Smith in Prospect, South Australia. She beg ...

, Richard Wherrett, Jonathan Mills and Kristy Edmunds. The artistic director for the 2009–2012 festivals was

Brett Sheehy Brett Joseph Sheehy AO (born 23 November 1958) is an Australian artistic director, producer and curator. He is currently Artistic Director and CEO of the Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC), and is the only person to be appointed to direct three ...

. Previously, Sheehy was artistic director of the Adelaide Festival of Arts (2006–2008), and Festival Director and Chief executive of Sydney Festival (2002–2005). In January 2012, Melbourne Festival announced the appointment of Josephine Ridge as creative director for the 2013 festival and beyond. Prior to her appointment Josephine was general manager, then executive director and co-CEO with four artistic directors at

Sydney Festival Sydney Festival is a major arts festival in Australia's largest city, Sydney that runs for three weeks every January, since it was established in 1977. The festival program features in excess of 100 events from local and international artists an ...

. Josephine appointed several high-profile arts workers to her creative team, including Louise Neri (Creative Associate – Visual Arts) and

Richard Tognetti Richard Leo Tognetti AO (born 4 August 1965) is a leading Australian musician recognised internationally as a violin soloist, ensemble player, leader, composer and arranger, conductor and artistic director. He is currently artistic dire ...

(Creative Associate – Music).

Selected productions

The 2006 Melbourne Festival hosted a production of '' Ngapartji Ngapartji'', with much of the dialogue in the

Pitjantjatjara language Pitjantjatjara (; or ) is a dialect of the Western Desert language traditionally spoken by the Pitjantjatjara people of Central Australia. It is mutually intelligible with other varieties of the Western Desert language, and is particularly ...

. It premiered the universally critically acclaimed productions from

The Black Arm Band Black Arm Band is an Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander music theatre organisation. History The organisation was founded in late 2005 by Steven Richardson and has produced seven large-scale productions since its debut performance a ...

, ''murundak'' in 2006, ''Hidden Republic'' in 2008 and '' dirtsong'' in 2009. In 2015 the Australian Art Orchestra debuted ''Water Pushes Sand'' at the Festival. The piece merged Australian and

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of t ...

ese folk musical styles and featured Zheng Sheng Li, a Sichuan Cheng Du "face changing" dancer. In 2019 it was announced that in 2020, the festival would be transformed into

Rising Rising may refer to: * Rising, a stage in baking - see Proofing (baking technique) *Elevation * Short for Uprising, a rebellion Film and TV * "Rising" (''Stargate Atlantis''), the series premiere of the science fiction television program ''Starg ...

, to be held in the winter over several weeks. The new festival would combine the Melbourne International Arts Festival with White Night Melbourne Reimagined.

Description

Melbourne Festival was one of the most significant festivals in Australia, together with the

and the

Adelaide Festival of Arts The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...

. It hosted performances by established artistic companies as well as independent acts. It was an important event on the Australian cultural calendar. Each festival invited a range of dance, theatre, music, visual arts, multimedia and outdoor events from renowned and upcoming Australian and international companies and artists to Melbourne. It offered a wide variety of free family-friendly events. It took place over 17 days each October.

Artistic directors

References

{{Melbourne events Festivals in Melbourne 1986 establishments in Australia Classical music festivals in Australia Music festivals established in 1986 Performing arts in Melbourne Music festivals in Melbourne