F E S T I V A L S

January 1, 2013 Comments off

Experienced in the particular demands of major event and festival production, Kris is currently the director of the Festival of Voices, Hobart’s largest winter cultural event.

This follows on from his work on such events as the Sydney Fringe,  the New York Musical Theatre Festival, the Australian Ballet’s Ballet in the Park, Madison Square Garden/Radio City Entertainment’s A Christmas Carol, the Lygon Street Festa (over 300,000 attendees), the Myer Music Bowl Millennium Concert, the Waterfront Festival, the Williamstown Festival, The LIVE Youth Festival, the VIVA Cultural Diversity Festival and numerous outdoor concerts and events.

To find out more, click any of the links above or visit the FESTIVALS AND MAJOR EVENTS page.

AUSTRALIAN BALLET: BALLET IN THE PARK

September 25, 2011 Comments off

australian balletIn 1999, Kris produced and directed a number of outdoor events – it was during the renovation of the Myer Music Bowl, and a series of major Melbourne events needed to be re-housed. It was quite an interesting challenge to find a way to produce these enormous events for one-night-only in a stylish but practical way.

The Ballet in the Park was a free annual event sponsored by Telstra, and included two dozen member of the Australian Ballet’s ballet corp, plus (as you can see above), inflatable light sculptures created for the night, a string ensemble that played live and a fireworks event. More than 15,000 audience members attended this event.

FESTIVAL OF VOICES

September 25, 2011 Comments off

200px1The Festival of Voices is Tasmania’s leading winter cultural event and Australia’s premier festival celebrating the vocalist and the power of song.

Kris began at the festival in 2011, and oversaw an event which had 54% increase in ticket sales with 90% of performances playing to capacity, as well as a vast increase in attendance (both free and ticketed), marketing impressions and sponsorship, with new partners including Southern Cross TV, the Mercury, the State Cinema, ArtsHub, Limelight magazine, Star Observer and Sauce magazine.

Across dozens of events and for more than 10,000 singers and audience members, The Festival of Voices showcases a range of artistic disciplines, including choir and ensemble singing, spoken word, cabaret, debate, poetry, storytelling and hiphop.

The workshop program offers learning and performance opportunities for singers of all ages, abilities and experience and since it began the Festival has attracted some of  the world’s most loved and respected vocal teachers.  The performance program covers events both intimate (such as solo vocal events) and grand (such as the the Finale Concert at the Federation Concert Hall. We also celebrate community with the Bonfire & Big Sing, with 4,000+ attendees on our heritage waterfront at Salamanca.

festival of voices articles and media:

 

The Festival of Voices feature from SBS television and sTVudio


Festival of Voices 2011 TVC from Festival of Voices on Vimeo.

THE TROCADERO DANCE PALACE

September 25, 2011 Comments off

trocThe Trocadero Dance Palace was created to be a featured event at the 2011 Sydney Festival, and is returning as part of 2012 Festival First Night.

Kris was approached by the festival artistic director Lindy Hume, who wanted to create a show about the Trocadero, which was an iconic building on George Street, Sydney from the 40’s through to the late 60’s. It was an enormous dance hall, and generations of Sydneysiders met their husbands and wives on the Trocadero dance floor.

Eventually, it fell to the inevitable tide of development in Sydney – but the show Trocadero Dance Palace that Kris created for the Festival imagined a fictional present where the Trocadero remained the centre of Sydney’s dance culture. It featured an all-female big band (which the Troc was famous for), as well as four vocalists, featured dancers, aerial artists and an enormous dance floor. It was about creating an environment, and thousands of audience members turned out in costume, a mix of cutting-edge contemporary wear and jet-age fashion. With music that swung from Christina Aguilera to Paul Anka, and the Scissor Sisters to the Andrews Sisters, it was a tremendously exciting and successful event.

 

 

 

 

ARTICLES AND REVIEWS FOR THE TROCADERO DANCE PALACE:

“70 minutes of complete and utter excitement,” the Daily Telegraph

“An unambiguous success,” Lindy Hume in the Australian newspaper