2026
The 41st Adelaide Festival program, the first directed by Artistic Director Matthew Lutton OAM, featured 17 days of art created by some of the most cutting-edge creative minds in the world, crossing genres, eras and experiences with 59 events that truly reinforced Adelaide Festival as Australia’s international Festival and one of the great arts festivals of the world.
AF26 opened with an unforgettable free concert by British pop indie rock icons Pulp in Elder park, with an audience of 10,000 gathering for their only free concert on their national tour. In true international festival style, on the same evening, the neighbouring Adelaide Festival Centre hosted artists from Korea in The Cherry Orchard directed by Simon Stone, from France, in Isabelle Huppert’s riveting turn as Mary Queen of Scots in Mary Said What She Said and from China, with Re-Shaping Identity from dance duo GuoGuoHuiHui.
Festival highlights included Ensemble Pygmalion’s three spellbinding concerts of heavenly music by Bach, Monteverdi and Rossi; Julia Bullock’s beautiful vocals as Joséphine Baker in Perle Noire: Meditations for Joséphine; and Belgian ensemble FC Bergman’s wordless portrayal of the industrial revolution in Works and Days.
World-renowed choreographer Hofesh Shechter returned to Adelaide Festival with Theatre of Dreams, delving deep into the dreamlike world of the subconscious mind. Audiences tested their endurance and experienced all eight hours of The Great Gatsby, New York theatre company Elevator Repair Service set the classic in a modern-day office, keeping Fitzgerald’s sparkling prose intact in Gatz. The Adelaide Entertainment Centre Theatre was transformed into a roller-derby rink for the hilarious and heartfelt Mama Does Derby by Windmill Production Company. Griffin Theatre Company brought us the beautiful, moving depiction of young queer love in the early 19th century between two teenage boys in Whitefella Yella Tree. Acclaimed choreographer Stephanie Lake’s newest work, The Chronicles, with twelve of the country’s top contemporary dancers joined Young Adelaide Voices and baritone Oliver Mann onstage at Dunstan Playhouse.
Italian-based virtuoso violinist Sergej Krylov joined concert pianist Konstantin Shamray for a recital of exquisite French repertoire at UKARIA Cultural Centre.
The visual arts program included the 2026 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia, Yield Strength, which demonstrated how materials, selfhood and society are tested and transformed under pressure. Manifest Destiny at ILA Gallery showcased Alex Frayne’s photographic journey across America’s West, Deep South, and Bible Belt. Kumarangk, by commissioned Ngarrindjeri and Buandig artist Sandra Saunders, retold the story and tribulations surrounding the construction of the bridge to Kumarangk (Hindmarsh Island).
CODA was Adelaide Festival’s vibrant destination bar, located in Festival Plaza at the Adelaide Festival Centre. Open from 5pm until late with free entry, it offered food and drinks alongside local DJs spinning tunes.
Adelaide Writers’ Week 2026 was cancelled after a majority of the programmed authors withdrew their involvement following the Festival board’s decision to disinvite an author, Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah. This decision was later retracted and an apology was issued.
