MEDIA RELEASE
Friday 13 March 2026
The 41st Adelaide Festival draws to a close on Sunday 15 March, bringing to an end 17 days of stellar international performances and unforgettable appearances from a multitude of the world’s best artists and companies.
Adelaide Festival Chair Judy Potter said: “In 2026 Adelaide Festival has reaffirmed its place as Australia’s international, national festival. The Board congratulates Matthew Lutton on the success of his first program as Artistic Director, which has wowed audiences from across Australia and locally, and delivered on his vision to bring to Adelaide the best artists practicing in the world today. We thank everyone in the Adelaide Festival team for their hard work and audiences for embracing the artistic ambition of the 2026 Festival.”
Adelaide Festival Artistic Director Matthew Lutton said: “Adelaide Festival is a beacon and the premier destination in Australia for experiencing the world’s most distinguished contemporary artists across all art forms, from classical music to theatre, dance to opera, and visual arts to contemporary music. It has been exhilarating to speak with audiences during the 2026 edition who have been in awe of artistic inventiveness they have never seen before, life-changing calibre performances, and personal stories that sparked reflection on how they engage with others and the world.
I would like to thank every artist - international, Australian, and South Australian - for their remarkable creativity and imagination, as well as for the curiosity, reflection, and ecstasy they inspire in every audience member. I am immensely proud of the 2026 Festival, and I eagerly look forward to taking it further in the 2027 edition.”
The Festival was off to a flying start on opening night, where an Elder Park audience 10,000 strong was enthralled by Pulp at their only free concert during their national tour. The forecasted rain thankfully held off all evening to allow Jarvis Cocker and bandmates to deliver Common People, Disco 2000, and new tracks from their most recent album More, to delighted attendees of all ages. In true international festival style, on the same evening, the neighbouring Adelaide Festival Centre housed artists from Korea, France and China in three respective performances.
In-demand shows during the Festival also included Ensemble Pygmalion’s three spellbinding concerts of heavenly music by Bach, Monteverdi and Rossi; Isabelle Huppert’s riveting turn as Mary Queen of Scots in Mary Said What She Said (followed by a packed-out Artspace talk where it was standing room only); Julia Bullock’s beautiful vocals as Joséphine Baker in Perle Noir; and Belgian ensemble FC Bergman’s wordless portrayal of the industrial revolution in Works and Days.
Several performances and exhibitions will round out the closing weekend, including:
- Twelve spectacular dancers delving deep into the dreamlike world of the subconscious mind in Theatre of Dreams by world-renowned choreographer Hofesh Shechter
- The Great Gatsby like you’ve never seen it performed, when New York theatre company Elevator Repair Service moves the setting to a modern-day office but keeps all of Fitzgerald’s sparkling prose intact in Gatz
- A beautiful, moving depiction of young queer love in the early 19th century between two teenage boys in Griffin Theatre Company’s Whitefella Yella Tree
- Fresh from wowing 2025 audiences with Mass Movement, acclaimed choreographer Stephanie Lake’s newest work, The Chronicles, with twelve of the country’s top contemporary dancers joining Adelaide’s own Young Adelaide Voices and baritone Oliver Mann onstage
- The final opportunity to see Adelaide company Slingsby’s re-imagined trilogy of fairytales Hansel and Gretel, The Selfish Giant and The Little Match Girl in A Concise Compendium of Wonder
- Italian-based virtuoso violinist Sergej Krylov with concert pianist Konstantin Shamray for a recital of exquisite French repertoire at UKARIA
Visual Art
- Extended until Saturday 21 March due to popular demand, Manifest Destiny at Light Square’s ILA Gallery: Alex Frayne’s photographic journey across America’s West, Deep South and Bible Belt, accompanied by moving images by video artist and cinematographer Capital Waste, set to an electro-pop soundtrack by Empire of the Sun’s Donnie Sloan.
- Kumarangk by commissioned Ngarrindjeri and Buandig artist Sandra Saunders who retells the story and tribulations of the building of the bridge to Kumarangk (Hindmarsh Island) through painting and wireworks, alongside major new works by twelve Indigenous female artists and open at the free-entry ACE Gallery until Saturday 4 April
- The 2026 free-entry Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia, Yield Strength, a demonstration of how materials, selfhood and society are tested and transformed under pressure and open until Monday 8 June
This weekend is also the final opportunity for audiences to visit CODA, Adelaide Festival’s destination bar on Adelaide Festival Centre’s Festival Plaza. Open from 5pm until late and with free entry, tasty food and drinks, and local DJs spinning tunes, it’s the perfect spot to meet before or after a show, hit the dancefloor, and make any final Festival memories for another year.
The 2027 Adelaide Festival runs from Thursday 25 February – Sunday 14 March.
