The Avalanches, Ólafur Arnalds, DJ Shadow and a symphonic celebration of Dolly Parton are among the musical highlights of Perth Festival 2027, which will bring 24 days of performances, installations and premieres to Western Australia from 5 to 28 February.

The program, announced by artistic director Anna Reece, puts live music at the centre of a festival spanning electronic music, jazz, folk, soul, classical and traditional music, alongside major international theatre and dance productions and new commissions by Western Australian artists.

East Perth Power Station. Photo © Jessica Wyld Photography

East Perth Power Station, with its vast industrial interiors and imposing façade, will be a major festival hub, hosting headline music performances, late-night events and free programs. The line-up includes Australian electronic pioneers The Avalanches, Grammy Award-winning Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds, US DJ and producer DJ Shadow, Kaytetye producer and DJ RONA, from Mparntwe/Alice Springs, and Perth band Methyl Ethel.

A symphonic tribute to Dolly Parton, We Will Always Love Her, adds another strand to the program, celebrating one of popular music’s most enduring figures.

The power station will also host Casa Musica, a free program showcasing musicians from across the Indian Ocean Rim and beyond. Its industrial façade will be transformed by a major new commission from acclaimed Walmajarri artist John Prince Siddon as part of Boorloo Contemporary, the festival’s program of First Nations art.

Another music venue, Perth Town Hall, will become The Embassy for three weeks, offering a mix of jazz, folk, soul, cabaret, swing and big-band music. The program brings together Australian performers and international artists, including Perth chanteuse Ali Bodycoat, New York cabaret artist Salty Brine, The Waifs’ Vikki Thorn with her ThornBird project, Fremantle singer-songwriter Stella Donnelly and actor and singer Ursula Yovich performing the music of Nina Simone.

Ursula Yovich sings the Music of Nina Simone. Photo Claudio Raschella

Other highlights include British Bengali performer Tara Lilly, Detroit-raised bassist and bandleader Endea Owens, and New Delhi group Peter Cat Recording Co.

The festival’s Sanctum Series expands beyond its familiar setting at St Mary’s Cathedral, adding Government House Ballroom to its list of performance spaces. The series features the UK’s Idrîsî Ensemble, Indian violinist Dr L. Subramaniam and Canadian pianist Ryan Wang, bringing international musicians into venues chosen for their distinctive architecture and atmosphere.

Perth’s own musical talent will feature in several projects. Acclaimed Noongar singer-songwriter Gina Williams-Ghouse joins the West Australian Symphony Orchestra for Warangka (Sing), while the orchestra also presents Heroes and Hallucinations, an intimate program of orchestral music at Studio Underground.

Audiences seeking a more intimate experience can head to Northbridge’s Chinatown for the Astral Weeks Sessions. The series presents one-off performances by hand-picked artists in close quarters, with each performer’s identity kept secret until they take the stage.

1975 | Naoi Déag Seachtó Cúig. Photo © Jed Niezgoda

Music also feeds into the festival’s dance and theatre offerings. Irish choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan brings 1975 | Naoi Déag Seachtó Cúig, a work for seven dancers inspired by the landmark album 1975 by Irish traditional music group The Bothy Band. The production combines traditional music’s emotional force with a contemporary physical vocabulary.

From Italy, Alessandro Sciarroni’s Save The Last Dance explores endurance, intimacy, trust and tenderness between men, while the world premiere of witches.exe, from Western Australian company The Last Great Hunt, combines live performance, puppetry, animation and fantastical soft sculpture with an original score. The production revisits the strange, lawless early days of the internet.

ROHTKO. Photo supplied

The wider performing arts program brings several European productions to Perth. Latvian-Polish theatre and cinema hybrid ROHTKO, inspired by a notorious art-world scandal, uses live cameras, large screens, a transforming set and a driving soundtrack to explore the uncertain boundary between authenticity and forgery.

Danish company Hotel Pro Forma reimagines the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in its landmark production Operation: Orfeo. The Greek director Mario Banushi, recently awarded the Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale, will present Taverna Miseria, an intimate production about family, loss and the things left unsaid.

Hotel Pro Forma – Operation: Orfeo. Photo © Roberto Fortuna

British disability-led company FlawBored brings its pointed satire It’s a Motherf**king Pleasure, taking aim at identity politics and the ways in which identity can be commodified.

The festival will also extend into Perth’s public spaces and natural landscape. Karla Bidi, meaning “Fire Trail” in Noongar, returns with a route of light, sculpture and sound created by First Nations artists Ilona McGuire, Jacob Nash, Chloe Ogilvie and Ian Moopa Wilkes, under the guidance of Noongar Elders including Vivienne Binyarn Hansen. In 2027, the work expands beyond the city to include the coast, looking out across the ocean.

West Australian Ballet’s Ballet at the Quarry: Kira. Photo © Marco Palmieri & Hypnosis Creative Agency

West Australian Ballet begins its 75th anniversary celebrations in Ballet at the Quarry: Kira, an evening honouring Madame Kira Bousloff, who founded the company in 1952. STRUT Dance’s Perth Moves Battle returns to the State Theatre Centre Courtyard for an all-ages competition spanning breaking, krump, contemporary and freestyle.

The festival opens with An Inheritance, an interactive exhibition created by almost 500 primary school children from across Western Australia. The children have contributed knowledge, advice, jokes, memories and treasured objects that they believe should be passed on to future generations. At the festival’s conclusion, the collection will be entrusted to the WA Museum, sealed away for a century and scheduled to reopen in 2127.

The closing work, Kite Choir, is a free interactive installation on the South Perth Foreshore/Gaboordjoolup. Kites carrying songs, stories, wishes and sounds inspired by nature will form a chorus of young voices from around the world.

Anna Reece. Portrait © Frances Andrijich

For Reece, the program is about bringing international artists into conversation with the city and its communities, while making space for both spectacle and more intimate encounters.

“In February, our city will pulse with mischief, surprise and moments of euphoria,” she said. “From a single voice in a room to thousands of us dancing together. We encounter beauty and intensity, but also joy, escape and the simple pleasure of being together.”

Perth Festival runs from 5 to 28 February. For more information and ticket booking, please visit perthfestival.com.au