As the first major event of 2025, Sydney Festival once again kicks off the new year by filling the city with music, theatre, pop-up art exhibitions and lifestyle activations from some of the world’s finest talents.
Over 130 performances and events are scheduled in for the 24-day festival, which runs until Sunday, January 26 and has already starting transforming the city’s best venues from Sydney Opera House to Carriageworks. If you’re stuck in the choice anxiety phase and don’t yet know which tickets you should be going for, scroll through Sydney Travel Guide’s top picks of Sydney Festival so you know where your attention should be.
From dramatic, Vegas-style musicals and small-scale theatre productions to creative performances in some of Sydney’s best public spaces, there’s plenty of interesting things to be done to help start the year by celebrating creativity in all its many forms.
Our top 10 picks for Sydney Festival
When is Sydney Festival? Sydney Festival runs from January 4 to January 26, 2025.
How much are tickets for Sydney Festival? Ticket prices vary based on the event. There are several free events although most are ticketed and cost anywhere from around $40 to around $140.
What are the headline acts for Sydney Festival this year? An authorised opera inspired by the lives of Siegfried & Roy (Siegfried & Roy: The Unauthorised Opera), an immersive production reimagining American history through the lens of the Wild West (Dark Noon), and a night at the Sydney Opera House with Rufus Wainwright.
What’s different about Sydney Festival this year? Sydney Festival seems to be a lot more accessible this year, with more free events than ever before. Attendees can also take advantage of the new Sydney Metro to access Walsh Bay Arts Precinct from the new Barangaroo station.
1. Siegfried & Roy: The Unauthorised Opera
As the ostensible headline of Sydney Festival this year, Siegfried & Roy: The Unauthorised Opera promises pure Vegas showmanship at the Wharf 1 Theatre, retelling the wild rise and dramatic fall of the most famous magic act of all time. The duo’s complicated backstory forms the basis of this newly-conceived production. New York-trained composer and co-librettist Luke Di Somma and director Constantine Costi go all the way back for this one, straight to the duo’s childhood, having been raised in war-torn Germany, and tracking their rise to becoming the highest-paid act Vegas had ever seen.
Where: Wharf 1 Theatre; Wharf 4/5, 15 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay, NSW 2060
When: January 8 – 25, 2025
Price: $49 – $129
2. Dark Noon
With Sydney Festival kicking off last week, the Harbour City is primed for a few packed weeks of world-class cultural events across Sydney’s best stages. One of the many highlights is Dark Noon, an alternative take on the Wild West with a brutal look at American history. It all takes place on a stage covered in the red dirt of the prairie, turning Town Hall into a raw, immersive ride through the American frontier with gunslinging cowboys, Native Americans, enslaved Africans, Chinese works and European settlers.
Danish director True Biering and South Africa’s Nhlanhla Maglangu have put together biting satire with an unfiltered take on the atrocities that sit at the core of American history. As such, themes of power, race and displacement underscore the production, which arrives in Sydney fresh from five-star runs at New York’s St Ann Warehouse and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Where: Sydney Town Hall; 483 George Street Sydney NSW 2000
When: January 9 – 23, 2025
Price: $80 – $119
3. Animal by Cirque Alfonse
A curious soundtrack of ‘agricultural funk’ will bounce around the Riverside Theatres as acclaimed intergenerational circus, Cirque Alfonse, brings its unique brand of quirky, authentic performance art to Parramatta. Raised in rural Canada, the travelling circus tackles themes of childhood memories and rural cliches, told through acrobatics, juggling, tap dancing, absurdist humour and other circus standards.
Cirque Alfonse have proven to be Sydney Festival favourites before, having produced shows at two previous editions, including the acclaimed Timber! for Sydney Festival 2025. Head on out to Parramatta this weekend to find out why they keep get invited back for more.
Where: Riverside Theatres; corner Church and Market Streets, Parramatta NSW 2150
When: January 3 – 12, 2025
Price: $49 – $89
4. Air Time
Street culture takes to the stage as Air Time plays as part of Sydney Festival. Radical arts company Brand Nebula bring this new production to Chippendale with a high-energy cast of BMXers, skaters, dancers and parkourists. The unique style of performance draws on the anarchy of these subcultures and deepens the story behind each, presenting imaginative, multi-faceted performances centered around a towering skate ramp installed at Seymour Centre’s Everest Theatre.
Where: Everest Theatre; Corner Cleveland Street & City Road, Chippendale NSW 2008
When: January 7 – 11, 2025
Price: $59
5. Bankstown Biennale
The third annual Bankstown Biennale has been running since late November and will wrap up in early February. And to help elevate some its events, Sydney Festival 2025’s Art Up Late program has come onboard to bring more people out west for this packed schedule designed to celebrate western Sydney’s defining sense of community. Artist-led events include poetic performances and experimental sound works, taking place next to craft workshops and markets. Don’t miss the various roundtable discussions providing deeper insights into local cultures and book in early for the many different workshops.
Where: 5 Olympic Parade, Bankstown NSW 2200
When: Until February 1, 2025
Price: Free
6. Rufus Wainwright
Legendary singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright returns to Sydney for the first time in five years, pulling together a one-night-only performance for Sydney Opera House’s Concert Hall. With 11 albums sitting behind his three-decade career, Wainwright has plenty of material to pull on, curating an insightful night that celebrates his many works, including collaborations with the likes of Elton John and Joni Mitchell, and Grammy-nominated family folk.
Where: Sydney Opera House; Bennelong Point, Sydney NSW 2000
When: Wednesday, January 8, 2025
Price: $59 – $139
7. Antigone in the Amazon
Milo Rau and NTGent redefine the political Greek tragedy with Antigone in the Amazon, playing for just four days at the Roslyn Packer Theatre in Walsh Bay. Sophocles’ timeless Antigone is pulled apart and reconstructed on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, taking the audience to Para, Brazil with visions of the future milked from a classical story of one woman’s stance against the state of the world and the dancers of exploitation.
The dramatic, meaningful play has been lifted by Indigenous people, activists from Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement and actors from Europe, all coming together for a stark portrayal of a tragedy that is deeply resonate in the modern world.
Where: Roslyn Packer Theatre; 22 Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay NSW 2000
When: January 4 – 8, 2025
Price: $69 – $119
8. The Chronicles
It wouldn’t be Sydney Festival without a blockbuster dance performance. This year, Stephanie Lake presents The Chronicles, spun around the theme of hope with a brand-new work from one of Australia’s most innovative choreographers. Building upon her history with Sydney Festival, Stephanie’s latest work brings together twelve dancers set to an electro-acoustic score by Robin Fox and Sydney Children’s Choir and driven by the cycles of tenderness and power.
Where: Roslyn Packer Theatre; 22 Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay NSW 2000
When: January 16 – 19, 2025
Price: $69 – $109
9. The Cage Project
John Cage’s timeless magnum opus, Sonatas and Interludes, will be reimagined as a three-dimensional audio-visual project for Sydney Festival this year. Set for Carriageworks, the two-day installation will see Australian multi-instrumentalist Matthias Schack-Arnott compose pianist Cedric Tiberghien as he plays under aa large-scale mobile of percussion instruments. The eccentric celebration of a work that forever changed the way musicians play piano is positioned as one of the more unique live music events happening to Sydney Festival this year.
Where: Carriageworks; 245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh NSW 2015
When: January 24 – 25, 2025
Price: $65 – $125
10. Wendy Whiteley’s Secret Garden
Wendy and Brett Whiteley’s secret garden in Lavender Bay is one of the best public parks in Sydney, and yet even many locals are completely unaware of its existence. While it’s an remarkably beautiful, contemplative spot year-round, the next few weeks are going to be particularly specials for this immaculate bohemian garden as Sydney Festivals fills it with life. There will be live music from the likes of William Barton, the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, and experimental jazz duo NoSax No Clar. You’ll even get to hear the distinctive sounds of Indian classic jazz as tabla maestro Maharshi Raval brings his diverse work to the garden.
Where: Lavender St, Lavender Bay NSW 2060
When: January 18-19, 2025
Price: $49
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