In a very short time, Vivid Live has become an important event on Sydney’s annual event calendar as a result of its unique nature. Unlike the majority of international music festivals, Vivid operates more as a creative platform than it does a round-up of musicians promoting new material. This, the event’s fourth year, continues to follow and evolve this formula, but its taken a step forward in appointing a festival director, replacing its rotating roster of guest curators and placing the Sydney Opera House’s head of contemporary music, Fergus Linehan, at the helm. Not that there was any issues taken with previous directors’ programming – including Brian Eno and Modular’s Stephen Pavlovic – but, as a whole, it lacked a sense of continuity from year to year, as curators weren’t able to forward-plan acts for years to come, effectively limiting the event from reaching its full potential.
Mr Linehan, needless to say, is thrilled to be overseeing the event, which incorporates music, light and, rather interestingly, ideas. “It’s a really interesting platform for the house,” he says, “because through the course of the year we rarely get acts on consecutive dates, so with [Vivid] we have a platform to do things that are different to what people are used to.” Mr Linehan notes that the strength of numbers that a festival provides, the sense of community created, creates an environment where the public is more open to new experiences.” When else, he asks, would you find people out enjoying light projections on the Opera House sails on a Tuesday night?
Mr Linehan points to the demise of record sales as one reason for the growing popularity of live performance, and he’s keen to capitalise on this through collaboration, the ‘ideas’ component of the festival. He’s commissioned Niche and Modular to guest curate evenings in a way “that’s meaningful to them”, brought together Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly and Sufjan Stevens to perform together in a rare series of concerts, and has secured the world premiere of Efterklang’s new album, which they’ll perform with the Sydney Symphony.
“In this way,” says Mr Linehan, “we are directly engaged with the way people make music.” A few years ago, one couldn’t have imagined the scope of such acts – Karen O, Florence & The Machine, The Temper Trap and Imogen Heap – performing at what was a classically-focused venue. “The House simply couldn’t have programmed these kinds of acts then, and Vivid helps strengthen relationships for year-round programming. As a result, the venue’s audience has been enormously broadened, with half of Vivid’s audience never having been in the Opera House before. “If you’re one of the country’s most important arts centres and there’s a huge wave of audience you’re not reaching then you’ve got a problem.”
But the broadening is more than just attracting a younger audience, with online accessibility refining and broadening the public’s musical palette. “Interests are shifting, and it’s amazing to look around at an event and see everyone from 20 to 70 years old up out of their seats engaging in the same music. The public are pushing for expansion and diversity, and it’s a really exciting place to be in.”
The director brings with him an impressive background. He’s most recognised in Australia for helming Sydney Festival from 2006 to 2009, as part of its three-year directorship, but his reach extends internationally. Spending half his year in London where, since 2010, he has helped strengthen the Sydney Opera House’s international relationships, he is also an Artistic Associate at the Edinburgh International Festival and prior to Sydney Festival, was Artistic Director of Dublin Theatre Festival. They’re broad, challenging roles, but Mr Linehan’s affable nature and encycleopeadic knowledge of the arts has seen him bring to Australia such acts as Brian Wilson, Bjork, Grace Jones and Elvis Costello.
His artistic direction of Vivid then is really an extension of his work with the house but in a more focused manner. Indeed, what defines the event is its location. Few other music festivals can lay claim to a venue as historically-steeped, impressive and musically-hallowed as the Sydney Opera House. It’s a challenge in itself – “We’re never going to be able to squeeze 50,000 people in or around the House,” says Mr Linehan – but one that, in its own right, plays an important role in the event. “I’d like it to have a big international reputation, that people get on planes and trains and make the pilgrimage for because it’s a hub of incredibly interesting events.” Mr Linehan’s aim, essentially, is for musicians from around the world to identify Vivid as a platform upon which to present a special project, which goes some way into explaining the small presence of local acts in comparison to international. “Every act is meant to be really, really special, and so if a band is playing at The Metro in the same week as their performance at Vivid, it loses that buzz,” he says.
Vivid Lives runs at Sydney Opera House until July 03. Click here for more details.
Vivid Lives runs at Sydney Opera House until July 03. Click here for more details.