Sydney Festival Parramatta

In 2012, Sydney Festival will be presenting a new 10-day Festival in Parramatta with a whole range of free and ticketed events.  The 10 days include a free opening celebration, a week of dynamic performances (including a Festival Bar) and a free Closing Night Concert at Old King's School.

Holly Throsby – See 
A warm and bubbly dedication to the wide-eyed wonder of being little, Holly Throsby's wonderful songs take children on kaleidoscopic adventures of motorboats, diamonds, kookaburras and shadows, all peppered with inventive sound. Bringing her album See! to life on stage, Throsby's gentle wisdom and harmonies are powered by drums, keyboard, mandolin, guitar and heehaw-style strings – blended with a live collage of kooky effects and surprise voices. With five acclaimed albums to her name, this is Throsby's wild and wondrous musical journey especially for children. Old King’s School.

Norman Jay’s Good Times Bus 
Performing from on top of a double-decker bus, DJ Norman Jay will have the crowd grooving all the way down the street. Hailing from Notting Hill Carnival, which is recognised as the greatest street party in Europe, Norman Jay will run the gamut of tunes to make you feel good. Norman Jay’s Good Times Bus and his soul, funk and disco tunes are renowned for igniting dance floors worldwide. Church Street. 

As the World Tipped 
This piece of aerial theatre tells a tale of ecological crisis. Combining film and visuals with aerial performance, As the World Tipped confronts one of the most pressing issues for the planet with spectacle, humour and emotion. At the Secretariat of the Copenhagen Climate Change conference, harassed staff fail to notice as the world around them, literally and metaphorically, slides toward disaster. Suspended above the audience in the night sky, the performers struggle to control their increasingly precarious world as they do battle with the effects of drastic environmental catastrophe. Church Street.

Walk A Mile In My Shoes 
With a kaleidoscope of songs and cultural stories, The Barefoot Divas are five female Indigenous singers/songwriters from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. Helpmann Award winner Ursula Yovich (Serb/ Burarra) and Black Arm Band favourite Emma Donovan (Gumbaynggirr) join their sisters Whirimako Black (Maori), Maisey Rika (Maori), Merenia (Maori/Roma) and Ngaiire (Papua New Guinea) for a rendition of diva- life on the road and on the stage, underscored by their deep connections to land and culture. More sisterly spree than concert, The Barefoot Divas is an expression of shared diversity, community and the power of song. Old King’s School.