ABOUT SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ARTS (SIFA)
As Singapore's annual pinnacle performing arts festival, the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) presents captivating and diverse works across theatre, music, dance, film and visual arts. First launched as the Singapore Festival of Arts in 1977, the festival has gone through several evolutions and inspired generations of arts lovers and practitioners. Today, the highly anticipated festival is a high point on Singapore's arts and cultural calendar. SIFA continues its festival mission to champion the creation and presentation of Singaporean and international works.
MEPAAN
A magnificent performance evoking the sublime rituals of Southeast Asia and its native people.
Ceremonial Enactments
Three Singaporean companies imagine a resplendent tapestry of local customary rituals.
Holly Herndon: PROTO
One of the most intelligent, disruptive musical voices of our age, experimental musician Holly Herndon dazzles in her first concert in Asia at SIFA 2022.
Remotes x Quantum
A gripping multi-disciplinary work reimagining life in Singapore and the Philippines on the brink of a dystopian world order.
The Neon Hieroglyph
Take a trip into the unconventional mind of Turner Prize award-winning artist, Tai Shani, in this filmic performance.
project SALOME
An arresting evocation of the enigmatic character Salome from Oscar Wilde's renowned play.
Bangsawan Gemala Malam
This original remake of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is inspired by the splendour of Bangsawan opera and Nusantara
Devil’s Cherry
A fantastical tale of two lost Singapore souls who cross the Devil's path in Australia.
The Once and Future
Experience a coming together of film, laser display and live musical performance in The Once and Future.
Emptiness – An exhibition by Sean Lee
In tandem with SIFA 2022's opening performance, MEPAAN, acclaimed Singaporean photographer Sean Lee showcases a selection of his works depicting a kaleidoscopic universe of flora and fauna.
Little Histories of Big Topics
Ahead of the festival, check out a series of essays that bring contextual colour to SIFA 2022’s performance offerings.
Delicate Spells of Mind
Raw and ambitious, Delicate Spells of Mind is an intriguing performance film by Lucy McRae that dissects the operating system of the mind – where a Seeker contends with ego, the inherited artificial intelligence.
Non Breaking Space
A hybrid digital art exhibition and EP release by musician and artist Anise, non-breaking space involves a stellar cast of collaborators including Brandon Tay, Mervin Wong, Sonia Kwek and Amanda Lee Koe.
GROW
+GROW is a set of learning resources offering a contemplative perspective into artists' creative stances and strategies.
DISCUSS
Facilitating +DISCUSS is a cast of two select individuals – Alfonse Chiu and Chong Gua Khee – whose diverse interests and specialisations deepen and expand the conversation.
OIWA - The Ghost of Yotsuya
Based on blood-tingling real-life events and historical figures from the Edo period, the tale of Oiwa – a jilted wife who haunts her murderer – continues to reverberate through its countless adaptations.
Three Sisters 三姐妹
Three Sisters, by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, stands as one of the most outstanding plays of his career. Olga, Masha, and Irina – the titular sisters - fritter away their lives in a provincial town, while they dream of returning to the cosmopolitan city where they grew up.
The Commission
The Rhythm of Us
A Dream Under The Southern Bough: Existence 《南柯一梦》之辱梦
When you’re stuck in a dream that seems larger than life, blurring the boundaries between imagination and your existence, what do you do?
The Journey
The Year of No Return
The Wandering
Something has gone wrong for a typical Singaporean family. After a man loses his job and the respect of his wife and teenage son, he tries to reconnect with his family by taking them on a trip to visit a childhood haunt. Now abandoned and falling apart, the place is nothing like he thought it would be—especially not the ghosts of his past lying in wait.
A Bird Calls You To Moscow
Third Vodcast: SOURCE x Audible Lands
Life in a Cloud
With the world in isolation, how can we better connect with each other through the language of art?
Singular Screens
these broken wings
A Thousand Ways - Part 1: A Phone Call
Poetry under the Southern Bough
Watch it Again – Panel: The Future of Festivals
SIFA brings together three festival makers to share their thoughts, challenges and motivations in planning for a festival during a pandemic. How have their decisions been affected?
Panel: The Future of Collective Experience
The pandemic aftershocks point not only towards an economic recession but also a social one.
SIFA Playlist with Nico Muhly
SIFA 2018 artist Nico Muhly has stitched together a hypnotic- ear-worm loaded listening journey based on works that explore travel and observation, both of which are sorely missing in our lives today. With pieces from Steve Reich to Benjamin Britten, Sam Armidon to Teitur, it is a smorgasbord of rhythms, textures and gorgeous sounds.
Jacob Collier Workshop
100 Keyboards
With 100 battery-operated analogue keyboards, Japanese avant-garde sound artist ASUNA manipulates sound waves to create an intriguing and fascinating ambient wash of overlapping notes and sonic textures.
Listen to his playful genre-bending sonic experiments cross from ambient to hip-hop to low-fi pop and improvisation at #SIFA2019.
Sneak peek into 100 Keyboards
Sneak peek into ASUNA’s testing of 100 Keyboards for his performances at #SIFA2019 from 17 - 20 May!
A stalwart of Tokyo's experimental music scene, Japanese avant-garde sound artist ASUNA manipulates sound waves to create intriguing sonic experiments from ambient to hip-hop to low-fi pop and improvisation.
Read More
Making of Toy Factory Productions Ltd - Toy 肥料厂
Creating the right production image demands hard work. Check out the making of Toy Factory Productions Ltd - Toy 肥料厂’s A Dream Under the Southern Bough: Reverie production visual! #SIFA2019
Shito Takatani Interview
A Screening of Shiro Takatani: Between Nature and Technology
#SIFA2019 SPOTLIGHT: RYUICHI SAKAMOTO, A MAESTRO IN MARRYING MUSIC GENRES, CATEGORIES AND CULTURES
A modest artist who’s never absorbed by his global recognition and impressive awards (including an Oscar for best original soundtrack in the movie ‘The Last Emperor’!), Sakamoto is known for continuously pushing the boundaries of his artistry and paving way for unconventional musical expression. Having experimented in a divergent array of music genres from New Wave, electro-pop, classical and ambient sound sculptures, he finds excitement in breaking down the walls and combining these genres, categories and cultures.
This seemingly-inexhaustible energy has been serving fresh and dynamic creations to the world as seen from his rich catalogue of works that spans over four decades. Perhaps only taking a break after being diagnosed with throat cancer, Sakamoto took his introspective reflection on the essential nature of life and death and turned it into an album, his latest one – async.
Join Ryuichi Sakamoto in an intimate conversation as he speaks fluidly about drawing inspiration from his own battle with cancer for his latest album, his life and career.
A Dream Under the Southern Bough: Reverie 南柯一梦之如梦
Disgraced naval officer Chun Yu Fen wakes up in a dream and is thrust into a fantastical journey into the Ant Kingdom. Don’t miss this ambitious and highly-anticipated staging of beloved Ming dynasty playwright Tang Xianzu’s lyrical play by Toy Factory Productions Ltd - Toy 肥料厂
Beware of Pity - Reviews & Press
“With dazzling virtuosity, McBurney and his team evoke a vanished world.” ★★★★ - Guardian, UK
“Takes on the compelling quality of a thriller” ★★★★ - Financial Times
“It draws you in and shakes you" ★★★★ - Times
“Extraordinarily compelling" ★★★★ - Independent
“An illuminating explosion" ★★★★ - WhatsOnStage
“Thrilling" ★★★★ - Time Out
“Dazzling" ★★★★ - Guardian
“It speaks to the present cacophonous moment" ★★★★ - Evening Standard
Beware of Pity Schaubühne Berlin & Complicité (Germany/UK)
Invited to a castle for a soirée, young Austro-Hungarian cavalry officer, Hofmiller, slides into a destructive romance with Edith, the paralysed daughter of a wealthy family.
Initial delight turns to despairing rage when she realises Hofmiller only proposed to her out of pity. Find out how this emotionally-gripping play deals with the question of what true compassion and empathy is
Crowd Gisèle Vienne (France)
Last night’s opening of Crowd by Gisèle Vienne was amazing! The endless series of 1990s Berlin rave party images formed by the dancers were stunning with movements that incorporated cinematic effects like slow motion, freeze frame, and the ‘jerky’ repetition of gifs.
Bedtime Stories - Reviews & Press
“Dudkiewicz deep, somewhat disturbing voice and impeccable elitist British accent distinguish him as a performer of everyone else.” – TheaterKrant
VR_I Cie Gilles Jobin and Artanim (Switzerland)
With a VR headset and your movements tracked with an optical motion capture system, see your own body in the shape of an avatar embedded in a contemporary dance piece at VR_I.
Immersive and contemplative, this unique installation at the Festival House is a fascinating exploration of cutting-edge imaging technologies with artistic expressions of contemporary dance!
Patrons are advised to arrive 15 minutes before the programme begins. Unclaimed places may be given away to walk-in patrons. @ The Arts House at The Old Parliament.
ST/LL - Reviews & Press
“With its sometimes unusual mix of live action and audio-visuals, ST/LL is perhaps best seen as a live installation; a meditation on time and space.” - SeeingDance
“For Takatani more than thinking about the astonishing consequences involving the use of technologies on stage, is composing a sensorial experience for discovering – through the technologies mediation – an aesthetic experience in its etymological meaning.” - DigiCult
Crowd - Reviews & Press
“Vienne is a master of Hollywood-scale theatricality, but here she excels at hypnotising the audience with as little as a blurred rhythmic deviation…” - Springback Magazine
“Gisele Vienne is a theatre maker who is not frightened by the darkest side of human nature.” - The Skinny: Independent Cultural Journalism
“Unfamiliar but surprisingly beautiful, the “Crowd” draw the gaze like a magnet." - Onassis
De Relaxerette Arjan Kruidhof and Explore-the-North (The Netherlands)
We are grateful Margriet Vonno, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Singapore, took time to visit our Dutch artists and their programmes at #SIFA2019, De Relaxerette and Bedtime Stories!
Dionysus
Outdoor Print Ads
20 days to #SIFA2019! Have you spotted us around town yet?
An Overview of Ming Dynasty Drama: Focusing on Tang Xianzu and His Plays Dr Wang Bing (China)
An Overview of Ming Dynasty Drama: Focusing on Tang Xianzu and His Plays
Anticipating The Year of No Return: An Insight into the Creative Process The Necessary Stage (Singapore)
Anticipating The Year of No Return: An Insight into the Creative Process
Asian Dramaturgs' Network Conference 2019: Dramaturgy and the Human Condition Centre 42
Anticipating The Year of No Return: An Insight into the Creative Process
A Legend Reimagined Chong Tze Chien / The Finger Players (Singapore)
A Legend Reimagined
Bill Frisell Trio featuring Rudy Royston & Thomas Morgan (USA)
A Dream Under the Southern Bough – Beginning 《南柯一梦》 Toy Factory Productions TOY 肥料厂
1984 George Orwell
Playlist #1 Ballet Preljocaj (France)
Duke Ellington Orchestra Duke Ellington Orchestra
Jacob Collier Jacob Collier (UK)
The Blues Project Dorrance Dance with Toshi Reagon and BIGLovely
OCD Love L-E-V Dance Company (Israel)
choreography of Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar.
TAHA Amer Hlehel (Palestine)
Rhymes of Love: An Evening of Poetry and Conversation Javed Akhtar & Shabana Azmi / Javed Akhtar & Shabana Azmi
Sultan of the Disco Sultan of the Disco
The Hidden Kamini Ramachandran (Singapore)
The Nature Museum Institute of Critical Zoologists (ICZ)
Vegetative State Manuela Infante
An Evening With Kronos Quartet Kronos Quartet
Dragonflies Pangdemonium, Tracie Pang, Adrian Pang, Stephanie Street
Becoming Graphic Sonny Liew, Edith Podesta
And so you see... our honourable blue sky and ever enduring sun... Robyn Orlin
Art Studio Nine Years Theatre, Nelson Chia, Yeng Pway Ngon
Guilty Landscapes III Dries Verhoeven
Red Carpet GALA: Lizard On The Wall, The Film K. Rajagopal (Inspired by Balli Kaur Jaswal's Inheritance)
Trojan Women National Theater Of Korea, Ong Keng Sen
The Making Of Enchanted Moments Lav Diaz
Interactive Exhibition & Paper Art Workshop Drew Cameron, Combat Paper
Explore the creative art of papermaking with Drew Cameron, who specially created the paper art works that appear on stage in My Lai. This immersive, hands-on papermaking session promises to reflect Drew’s innovative practice and process of papermaking printing.
Drew Cameron is an American paper artist and war veteran. After returning from the Iraq War, he began a practice in the craft of hand papermaking, cutting his own uniform apart and turning it into paper.
My Lai Kronos Quartet, Rinde Eckert, Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ
In The Mood For Frankie Trajal Harrell
The Last Bull: A Life In Flamenco Checkpoint Theatre, Huzir Sulaiman, Claire Wong, Antonio Vargas
The Sardono Retrospective Presents: Black Sun Conceived and Choreographed by Sardono W. Kusumo
I Am LGB Loo Zihan, Ray Langenbach
Hamlet | Collage Theatre of Nations, Robert Lepage
Paradise Interrupted Huang Ruo, Jennifer Wen Ma
Five Easy Pieces Milo Rau/ IIPM – International Institute of Political Murder, CAMPO
Tropical Traumas: A Series Of Cinematographic Choreographies Brian Gothong Tan
The Sardono Retrospective presents Expanded Cinemas Sardono W. Kusumo
Still Life Dimitris Papaioannou
The Last Supper Ahmed El Attar
THE KULA RING Curated by Alfons Hug
The Return of La Argentina Trajal Harrell
Time Between Us Fernando Rubio, with Oliver Chong
Borderlands Wu Man, Master Musicians from The Silk Road
Sandaime Richard Hideki Noda, Ong Keng Sen
Everything by My Side Fernando Rubio
Making And Doing Bill T. Jones
Bill T. Jones is one of the world’s foremost multi-talented artists with an illustrious and award-winning career as a dancer, choreographer, theatre director and writer. He has received major honours ranging from the 2013 National Medal of Arts to a 1994 MacArthur Genius Award and Kennedy Center Honors in 2010. Jones was recognised as Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2010, inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2009 and named “An Irreplaceable Dance Treasure” by the Dance Heritage Coalition in 2000. His creations on Broadway include the highly acclaimed “Spring Awakening” and "FELA!", where he won 2007 and 2010 Tony Awards for Best Choreography.
A new lecture-performance freshly made in 2016. Through rapid movement and gesture, Jones speaks about creativity: how to take an idea from inception to stage and what it means to be a maker in the world today.
Join Bill T. Jones in this rare, one-night-only opportunity to gain some insight into the mind of a creative genius from the contemporary dance world.
Ron Arad's 720° Ron Arad
Taiwan Dreams Episode 1: Dream Hotel Wei Ying-chuan
Versus Cake Theatre
HOTEL W!ld Rice
Smriti Padha (Memory Route) Santha Bhaskar
Sambaso Mansaku Nomura/Mansai Nomura/Hiroshi Sugimoto
Give Me Your Blood and I Will Give You Freedom Nikhil Chopra
In a powerful 50-hour performance specially commissioned by SIFA, performance artists Nikhil Chopra transforms a white canvas into breathtaking landscapes of black ink, in a vivid expression of India’s bloody fight for freedom against colonial rule.
