October 23, 2025 • 5 mins
Lisa and Russell are excited to see the return of The Perth Festival so they caught up with the Artistic Director, Anna Reece.
She revealed there are over one hundred events this year, and plenty of them are free!
Plus, Lisa was keen to find out about the David Bowie tribute show - Rebel Rebel.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're joined by someone who's looking to shake up Perth.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Something we look forward to every year. The Perth Festival.
It runs from Friday February sixth to Sunday March. The
First Lottery West Films run from November twenty four to
March twenty nine. It's not all the information and bookings.
Visit Perthfestival dot com dot au. You'll file you'll find
the brochure there. It's very everything you need to know,
(00:24):
everything you need to know. But Anna Reese to sort
of put it in a little bit more of a
nutshell for us, the artistic director for the Perth Festival,
is with us.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Good morning, hi guys.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
The festival schedule has been released. What are the big
things to pick out of it that you are most
looking forward to bringing to us? Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Okay, well there's a lot.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
So there's over one hundred events in the festival this
year and we're really excited that over a third of
those are free, so there's plenty for everyone to check out,
regardless of if you want to hand out some cash
or not. Yeah, but I suppose the big thing for
us there's a couple of returns. So the East Perth
power Station's coming back. So that's a big summer of
(01:07):
music down by the river at East Perth. You can
head down there from Thursdays to Sundays and got a
Kaza Musica which is this huge free stage. You can
listen to music from all around the world. You can
have a drink, you can have something to eat, bring
your dog.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
That's free. It is. That's awesome and.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
A great location down by the river.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Yeah, when we got over eighty thousand people there last year,
I think Perth really showed up for it, you know,
because it's an iconic building. So many people across so
many different generations have a bit of history there with
station that's possibly legal or illegal at doing something good
with it. Yeah, And so there's cars of musica so
that's huge and free. And then around the back there's
(01:46):
this hidden corner of the power station and that's where
our contemporary music venue is so beautiful, big stage under
the stars, but dwarfed by these big industrial walls. So
we've got a major lineup of big acts music there.
We've got Baker Boy, We've got Bleak Squad which is
a bit of rock and roll, Australian Royalty, we've got
(02:08):
Suitan Archives.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
We're doing a big David Bowie Tribune.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Now that's what I wanted to ask you about the show,
Rebel Rebel, because I know this is going to be
of huge interest to our people, to our listeners.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Well out of ten years next year since David Bowie died,
I know I could exactly where I was.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
It seems like yesterday, doesn't it.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
Yeah, And I'm a massive David Bowie fan and wanted
to wanted to find a couple of ways actually to
mark the moment and celebrate everything he did for music.
So we are getting together with the per Symphony Orchestra,
so there'll be the big backing band on stage at
the power Station, and then we're inviting as many incredible
wa musicians as we can to pick up the microphone
(02:48):
and do their own rendition of their favorite David Bowie.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
Banger's beautiful And if you've been to the orchestra, yeah,
and if you've been to the power Station, these huge
walls if you imagine David Bowie artwork, video clips projected
around it.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
So it will be a really big party.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
It's wape of calling it Rebel Rebel after one of
his songs, so that should be a really great night out.
Speaker 6 (03:10):
I think you talk about the power station. Are there
any other buildings around Perth. We're reading that you're going
to be re purposing some other iconic buildings with ryans
and what are you doing with them?
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Well, the perf Town Hall we transform into a place
called the Embassy and that's a little bit of a
nod back to the Embassy Ballroom, which was an old school,
beautiful ballroom in Perth in the seventies and eighties. But
we've turned this into an intimate kind of jazzy jazz club.
There's a cocktail bar, there's table cabaret, tables so you
can go and see big bands. You can see really
(03:43):
fantastic international jazz, some sensational and hilarious cabaret, some Australian
singer songwriters. So that's a really packed program there. And
on Fridays and Saturday nights it turns into a free.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Really gorgeous little karaoke bar.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
We're taking over Saint Mary's Cathedral, which is a beautiful cathedral.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
It's quite a responsibility look after.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Yes, yes, we will look after it.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
We're very thrilled that they've said yes for us doing
some programming in there, but I don't think we're programming
anything radical in there. What we're doing is creating a
music program called the Sanctum Series, which is really gorgeous
choral work from around the world, some chamber music, a
wonderful Irish fiddle player.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Called Martin Hayes. What else are we're doing.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
We're taking over the bridges of Perth with huge artwork.
We're putting these wonderful sculptures all the way along the
river from Guildford all the way down to Fremantle called
Karla Biddie. There's an opera called The Trial, which is
about a guy who gets accused of murder but he's
not guilty, and Lost and Found opera, which is a
(04:47):
WA company presenting that in a bleak Severance style corporate
office building in one of our top top floors of
corporate office block in the center of Perth's dance in
Forest Place.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
There's a lot, there's a lot.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
I'm very excited to see Miles coming back and personally
more Cheeber. I can't wait to see more Cheaper at
the power station.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Now.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
What I love about Perth embracing the festival I've seen
in recent years Perth. People will give things a go
and that's you know, try something new, and that's awesome
because if we don't, it doesn't continue, then all we
have is sport and sports great, that's great, but we
also need art so and thank you so much for
(05:29):
coming in the beginning of February.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Out of your Taste is something for everybody.
Speaker 6 (05:34):
So that's the Birth Festival which starts on the sixth
of February.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
We're looking forward to that.
We're joined by someone who's looking to shake up Perth.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Something we look forward to every year. The Perth Festival.
It runs from Friday February sixth to Sunday March. The
First Lottery West Films run from November twenty four to
March twenty nine. It's not all the information and bookings.
Visit Perthfestival dot com dot au. You'll file you'll find
the brochure there. It's very everything you need to know,
(00:24):
everything you need to know. But Anna Reese to sort
of put it in a little bit more of a
nutshell for us, the artistic director for the Perth Festival,
is with us.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Good morning, hi guys.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
The festival schedule has been released. What are the big
things to pick out of it that you are most
looking forward to bringing to us? Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Okay, well there's a lot.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
So there's over one hundred events in the festival this
year and we're really excited that over a third of
those are free, so there's plenty for everyone to check out,
regardless of if you want to hand out some cash
or not. Yeah, but I suppose the big thing for
us there's a couple of returns. So the East Perth
power Station's coming back. So that's a big summer of
(01:07):
music down by the river at East Perth. You can
head down there from Thursdays to Sundays and got a
Kaza Musica which is this huge free stage. You can
listen to music from all around the world. You can
have a drink, you can have something to eat, bring
your dog.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
That's free. It is. That's awesome and.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
A great location down by the river.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Yeah, when we got over eighty thousand people there last year,
I think Perth really showed up for it, you know,
because it's an iconic building. So many people across so
many different generations have a bit of history there with
station that's possibly legal or illegal at doing something good
with it. Yeah, And so there's cars of musica so
that's huge and free. And then around the back there's
(01:46):
this hidden corner of the power station and that's where
our contemporary music venue is so beautiful, big stage under
the stars, but dwarfed by these big industrial walls. So
we've got a major lineup of big acts music there.
We've got Baker Boy, We've got Bleak Squad which is
a bit of rock and roll, Australian Royalty, we've got
(02:08):
Suitan Archives.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
We're doing a big David Bowie Tribune.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Now that's what I wanted to ask you about the show,
Rebel Rebel, because I know this is going to be
of huge interest to our people, to our listeners.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Well out of ten years next year since David Bowie died,
I know I could exactly where I was.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
It seems like yesterday, doesn't it.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
Yeah, And I'm a massive David Bowie fan and wanted
to wanted to find a couple of ways actually to
mark the moment and celebrate everything he did for music.
So we are getting together with the per Symphony Orchestra,
so there'll be the big backing band on stage at
the power Station, and then we're inviting as many incredible
wa musicians as we can to pick up the microphone
(02:48):
and do their own rendition of their favorite David Bowie.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
Banger's beautiful And if you've been to the orchestra, yeah,
and if you've been to the power Station, these huge
walls if you imagine David Bowie artwork, video clips projected
around it.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
So it will be a really big party.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
It's wape of calling it Rebel Rebel after one of
his songs, so that should be a really great night out.
Speaker 6 (03:10):
I think you talk about the power station. Are there
any other buildings around Perth. We're reading that you're going
to be re purposing some other iconic buildings with ryans
and what are you doing with them?
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Well, the perf Town Hall we transform into a place
called the Embassy and that's a little bit of a
nod back to the Embassy Ballroom, which was an old school,
beautiful ballroom in Perth in the seventies and eighties. But
we've turned this into an intimate kind of jazzy jazz club.
There's a cocktail bar, there's table cabaret, tables so you
can go and see big bands. You can see really
(03:43):
fantastic international jazz, some sensational and hilarious cabaret, some Australian
singer songwriters. So that's a really packed program there. And
on Fridays and Saturday nights it turns into a free.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Really gorgeous little karaoke bar.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
We're taking over Saint Mary's Cathedral, which is a beautiful cathedral.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
It's quite a responsibility look after.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Yes, yes, we will look after it.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
We're very thrilled that they've said yes for us doing
some programming in there, but I don't think we're programming
anything radical in there. What we're doing is creating a
music program called the Sanctum Series, which is really gorgeous
choral work from around the world, some chamber music, a
wonderful Irish fiddle player.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Called Martin Hayes. What else are we're doing.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
We're taking over the bridges of Perth with huge artwork.
We're putting these wonderful sculptures all the way along the
river from Guildford all the way down to Fremantle called
Karla Biddie. There's an opera called The Trial, which is
about a guy who gets accused of murder but he's
not guilty, and Lost and Found opera, which is a
(04:47):
WA company presenting that in a bleak Severance style corporate
office building in one of our top top floors of
corporate office block in the center of Perth's dance in
Forest Place.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
There's a lot, there's a lot.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
I'm very excited to see Miles coming back and personally
more Cheeber. I can't wait to see more Cheaper at
the power station.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Now.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
What I love about Perth embracing the festival I've seen
in recent years Perth. People will give things a go
and that's you know, try something new, and that's awesome
because if we don't, it doesn't continue, then all we
have is sport and sports great, that's great, but we
also need art so and thank you so much for
(05:29):
coming in the beginning of February.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Out of your Taste is something for everybody.
Speaker 6 (05:34):
So that's the Birth Festival which starts on the sixth
of February.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
We're looking forward to that.
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