After months of anticipation and a flurry of rumours, the 2008 Melbourne Festival has launched and the wait is finally over.

What will you be doing in October?

_{Pictured:The Black Arm Band – Hidden Republic
Photo: Ned Meldrum}

The Festival kicks off on Thursday 9 Oct with an incredible Opening Night Celebration, a remarkable global tour that celebrates the whole of Melbourne and the strength and vitality of its growing and diverse arts community.

This remarkable, one-off event really sets the tone for the entire 2008 program which presents an enormous selection of exceptional music artists that truly spans the globe:

Legendary artist, performer, writer and musician, Patti Smith comes to Melbourne to perform two unforgettable concerts with her band at Hamer Hall. To coincide with this anticipated visit, the Festival presents the Australian premiere of Patti Smith: Dream of Life, a film by Steven Sebring, its accompanying exhibition Objects of Life; and a beautiful selection of Smith's own visual work in the exhibition Photography & Installation.

In another outstanding event, Smith and Philip Glass come together in an inspired performance of poetry and music: Dedication to Allen Ginsberg.

Philip Glass and his ensemble bring to the Festival the acclaimed Book of Longing, a concert event based on the poetry and images of Leonard Cohen.

The Festival's grand musical tour continues with the groundbreaking Schönberg Ensemble conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw; world-renowned sitar virtuoso and composer Kartik Seshadri accompanied by outstanding tabla artist Arup Chattopadyay; Chamber Music Australia with two distinct programs of repertoire including an evening with members from the Schönberg Ensemble; The Jerusalem Quartet; Interpreti Veneziani Baroque Ensemble in Concert; a unique retrospective of Australia's most widely heard composer, Nigel Westlake: Shadow Dances; The innovative ensemble eighth blackbird and its exciting new program, The Only Moving Thing; Goran Bregovic and his 37-piece Wedding and Funeral Choir and Orchestra with Tales & Songs for Weddings & Funerals; Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu; and Turkish virtuoso Kudsi Erguner and his ensemble in two concerts: Sufi Invocations and Sufi Jazz Fusion Concert.

The program offers a number of anticipated world premieres from some of Australia's most innovative artists and companies: Liza Lim's beautiful opera The Navigator, directed by Barrie Kosky; Jenny Kemp's psychiatric fable Kitten; Back to Back Theatre and great Australian cult band The Necks with Food Court; Chunky Move's very clever Two Faced Bastard; Lucy Guerin Inc's intelligent dance work Corridor; KAGE's fusion of dance, theatre and visual design, Appetite; Helen Herbertson & Ben Cobham with Sunstruck and The Black Arm Band joins forces with members of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in the epic, historic concert event Hidden Republic.

And, of course, it wouldn't be the Festival without a wealth of productions from around the world: Batsheva Dance Company's astounding new works Three and Max; Wendy Houstoun's intriguing Desert Island Dances; Tim Crouch's award winning plays an oak tree and ENGLAND; DJ Spooky's timely multimedia spectacular Terra Nova Sinfonia Antarctica; a theatrical cinematic experience like no other from Mexican theatre company Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes, El Automovil Gris; Deborah Hay Dance Company's If I Sing To You; STO Union's wonderfully touching and idiosyncratic work, 7 Important Things; FW Murnau's Faust with Original Musical Score by Phillip Johnston; OKT/Vilnius City Theatre Romeo and Juliet; Tim Etchells & Victoria That Night Follows Day; Melbourne's own The Eleventh Hour with Samuel Beckett: Endgame 1958 - 2008.

From the moat of the NGV International via the Princes Bridge underpass to the streets and galleries of the city, Melbourne Festival presents an extensive program of performances, exhibitions, and visual and sound art events, literally all over Melbourne:

Chris Doyle's enormous homage to Melbourne, Ecstatic City; Matthew Sleeth's photographic exhibition that extends from Gallery walls in Richmond to various outdoor displays throughout the city, Pattern Recognition; David Pledger's foray into suburbia, The Meaning of Moorabbin is Open for Inspection; Alex Stahl's electro-acoustic installation echolocation; The first ever-comprehensive survey of international contemporary sound art in Melbourne, 21:100:100 (pictured below); Footscray Community Arts Centre's The GO Show; Lone Twin & The Suitcase Royale in a series of public performances around town, Newsboys; Panther's Exercises in Happiness; Polyglot Puppet Theatre The Big Game; Mammalian Diving Reflex in a fantastic intervention, the Children's Choice Awards, make a group of kids from Footscray City Primary School the official judges of the Festival. This culminates in an awards ceremony with a difference on Saturday 25 Oct.

_{Pictured: 21:100:100
Photo: Fabio Ongarato}

Other installation and visual arts events include Anne Noble's exhibition Ice Blink: Antarctic Photographs; Rita Antonioli's B-Side Music Portraits; Lynnette Wallworth and her moving interactive installation Evolution of Fearlessness; Eve Sussman & The Rufus Corporation's sumptuous and gripping film The Rape of the Sabine Women.

After a stellar year in 2007, the Beck's Bar returns from Thu 16 until Sat 25 Oct with a vibrant program of contemporary music and performance: Wendy Houstoun raises a glass to the art of drinking in Happy Hour; New York-based group Gloria Deluxe impress with their genre-spanning concert. Gloria Deluxe frontwoman Cynthia Hopkins is also performing an intimate solo show; DJ Spooky takes to the stage with a night of infectious beats and intelligent music; The formidable Mikelangelo & the Black Sea Gentlemen waltz, tango and polka their way through their wonderfully theatrical show; On a smaller scale to his State Theatre shows, Goran Bregovic and selected members of his Wedding & Funeral Band revel in the inimitable sound of the Balkans; The quietly acclaimed Australian singer-songwriter Ross McLennan presents songs from his latest album; one of the standout acts of 2007, Toshi Reagon and BIGLovely returns to the Festival and belle of the 2006 Festival ball, Camille O'Sullivan also returns with her moody new show The Dark Angel;

The Famous Spiegeltent's 2008 Festival program presents a mix of brilliant local acts that provide a chance to rediscover the heart and soul of this city's musical community, alongside some truly outstanding international surprises.

Jordie Lane; Blue Drag with Chantal Mitvalsky; Washington; Casey Bennetto A Largely Fanciful History of the Spiegeltent; Xani Kolac The Twoks; The Night Sky; Andrew Sterman & Mick Rossi; Pikelet; Aaron Choulai & Special Guests; The Mick Cameron Memorial String Band; Black Jesus Experience; Shellie Morris; Husky; Lowrider; Julie O'Hara Quintet All In The One Room; Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey This Map is not to Scale; Ileana Posas; I've Got a Bulletproof Heart: Kenny Mellmann is Grace Jones; Melbourne Ukulele Kollective; Matt Walker, Abbie Cardwell & Lisa Miller Songwriters-in-the-Round; Harry James Angus Everything That I Can Think Of and San Lazaro Concienci Asi Pa!

The Festival Around Victoria shares a musical sampling of the 2008 program including Toshi Reagon and the BIGLovely Trio in Bendigo, Dandenong and Frankston; Kartik Seshadri accompanied by Arup Chattopadyay in Frankston and the celebrated Venetian concert ensemble Interpreti Veneziani in Sale.