Festival of Voices: Hobart and Beyond, 4 July to 13 July 2014

 Hobart Joyous and celebratory, contemporary and classical, daring and delightful – the Festival of Voices is delighted to present a stunning line-up of national and international musicians over ten days in July. Australia’s premier celebration of the human voice delivers a glorious program of performances, public events and – uniquely – major workshops run by the artists, in a feast for music lovers of all ages and abilities. CEO Paul Kooperman said: “In our tenth birthday year we’re thrilled to present some of the world’s most exciting artists in Hobart, to perform, collaborate and learn from a dynamic community of singers and choirs joining us from across the world.”MAJOR CONCERTSUnmissable highlights of the Festival’s 2014 program include major concerts at Federation Concert Hall by BEN LEE (July 5), one of the most intriguing singer songwriters of his generation; he will perform one exclusive Tasmanian show and hold an intimate, 90-minute vocal workshop; ARIA Award winner and beguiling folk pop singer/songwriter CLARE BOWDITCH (July 11), one of Australia’s most divine voices, leads a three-hour performance workshop, with participants joining her on stage in her major concert that evening; and from the US, the electric five-piece and contemporary a cappella champions THE EXCHANGE rock Federation Concert Hall in their major concert (July 12), as well as get Hobart jumping with a five-day workshop for music lovers of all persuasions. TEN YEAR CELEBRATIONS To warm hearts and inspire the imagination, the beloved BONFIRE AND BIG SING (July 11) returns to Salamanca Place as part of the special ten-year celebrations directed by Festival Founder Neil Cameron, master of surprise and spectacle. Led by world renowned artists and hundreds of choristers around a blazing bonfire, all of Hobart is invited to join in and share the stage with festival guests, The Exchange and The Spooky Men's Chorale, uniting in one voice to create a choir of thousands for a mid-winter night’s magical evening.
VOICEBOX
Step inside Hobart City Hall, transformed for the festival into a den of red velvet, dirty cocktails and musical debauchery for VOICEBOX, Festival of Voices’ thrilling cabaret/alternative music series curated by award-winning, New York-based cabaret star KIM SMITH. Voicebox features a fabulous program of edgy, contemporary international and Australian artists ncluding the riotous, darkly comic ERIN MARKEY (July 5), named ‘Best Offbeat Diva Who’s About To Blow Up’ by Time Out New York in 2013 for her smart, quirky, moving performance that has audiences in smitten hysterics; KIM SMITH’S own performances ( July 4, 11) reimagining Weimar-era composers such as Friedrich Hollaender and Kurt Weill; JOEY ARIAS (July 4,5), a goddess of New York’s downtown performance scene for over 30 years and a bona fide cabaret icon, performance and drag artist whose many claims to fame includes starring as the Mistress of Seduction in Cirque du Soleil’s “Zumanity”; the seductive, rugged voice of Australian music legend TEX PERKINS (July 4), teaming up with the majestic guitar of great CHARLIE OWEN for one late night of brooding rock and soothing ballads, including an ode to Hobart he’s penned especially for the Festival; American operatic tenor WILL FERGUSON (July 6), whose romantic program has wowed major opera houses across the world; legendary sci-fi actress and singer JANE BADLER (July 9,10) bringing her seductive, neo-gothic cabaret; Australia’s genre-bending ‘kamikaze cabaret’ diva MEOW MEOW (July 5), in her critically acclaimed mix of drag, chanson and performance art; Melbourne sketch and stand-up comic NICOLETTE MINSTER (July 11,12); acclaimed soprano and cabaret star ALI MCGREGOR (July 11,12), shimmying between the worlds of opera, jazz and pop; rising Australian cabaret star CATH ALCORN, in an intimate, acoustic version of her new dark and delicious stage show “Nothing But a Song”; and for two nights only, the newly established TASMANIAN CABARET FESTIVAL created in partnership with a Tasmanian seasoned performer
of outstanding talent and repute: Allison Farrow takes over (July 7,8), presenting the state’s best cabaret artists.
LEARN FROM WORLD CLASS ARTISTS
The Festival of Voices sets itself apart from other festivals by