A pyrotechnic arena spectacular from France, and a dance coup from Germany crown Sefton’s swan song programme.

Current Adelaide Festival director David Sefton will be passing the curatorial baton to Neil Armfield and Rachel Healy next year. However while he may be bidding a fond farewell to South Australia’s annual celebration of the arts, it seems that with his fourth and final festival programme he intends to go out with a bang.

The jewel in the crown of his 2016 offering will be a jaw-dropping arena spectacular, packed with cutting-edge stage lighting technologies and astonishing pyrotechnics, by explosive French production company Groupe F. After selling in excess of 10,000 tickets in only three days, next year’s festival opener is now officially the fastest selling show in the 55 year history of event. For one night only À Fleur de Peau will dazzle and amaze an audience of over 50,000 at the Adelaide Oval in what promises to be one of the largest scale performances outside of the pop and rock circuit anywhere in the country in 2016.