One of the 20th century's most groundbreaking ensembles present two distinct concerts at Hamer Hall, performing the work of some of the foremost composers of the last hundred years.

One of the world's most prestigious dance companies returns to Melbourne Festival with a bold new work that explores three very basic and yet profound themes: beauty, nature and existence.

Classic, modern and contemporary dance forms come together with awe-inspiring synergy as the radical physicality of Three is taken even further in this, the newest work from Batsheva Dance Company.

Dripping with sensuality, The Navigator is a highly charged, emotional work about desire and the journey towards connection and transformation. Director Barrie Kosky brings this provocative opera to life for the stage. Through a complex play of light and costume a world of echoes is created, one that is in juxtaposition with the searing music gloriously performed by The ELISION Ensemble.

One of the 20th century's most groundbreaking ensembles present two distinct concerts at Hamer Hall, performing the work of some of the foremost composers of the last hundred years.

Kitten's rollercoaster journey from the depths of despair to soaring hope makes for theatre at its most powerful. Love, grief, transformation and yearning manifest without as well as within. Bewitching and unsettling, Kitten is a three-act tale that is at once psychiatric fable, lyrical puzzle and metaphysical love song performed by an outstanding cast.

On the back of an enormously successful international tour with small metal objects one of Australia's most exciting companies returns to Melbourne Festival with the world premiere of an anticipated new work. Part concert, part theatre show, Food Court features the idiosyncratic vision of Back to Back Theatre and the music of The Necks, who improvise a driving score for each performance.

DJ Spooky's newest large-scale multimedia performance work is an acoustic portrait of a rapidly changing continent. The Antarctic Suite transforms Spooky's first person encounter with the harsh, dynamic landscape into multimedia portraits with music composed from the different geographies that make up the land mass. Field recordings from a portable studio set up to capture the acoustic qualities of ice forms, reflect a changing environment under duress.

Dream of Life is a cinematic plunge into the creative spirit of Patti Smith, a breathing collage of her philosophy and artistry. Shot over a remarkable 11-year period by renowned fashion photographer Steven Sebring, Dream of Life is unprecedented in its lyricism and its intimate access to an icon.

A fascinating exhibition of photographs and objects inspired by Steven Sebring's time with Patti Smith during the filming of their extraordinary documentary Dream of Life.

Two friends come together for a rare and intimate evening of piano and poetry inspired by their passion for the work of seminal beat poet, the late Allen Ginsberg. A friend and mentor to both Patti Smith and Philip Glass, Ginsberg is one of the most influential poets of the twentieth century whose raw, raging verse epitomised the Beat movement in the 1950s. Smith and Glass shepherded Ginsberg through his last rites, and, as this event testifies, he remains a strong presence in their lives.

Both funny and melancholy, Desert Island Dances explores notions of absence and presence in a piece inspired by the popular BBC Radio program, Desert Island Discs. Wendy Houstoun asks 'Can we imagine or create a 'perfect' place?' If we can, what would it look like? What would we throw away? What would we keep?

Some of Melbourne's best-known (and bravest) actors take up an extraordinary challenge!

ENGLAND is about a different kind of empire - one of transmigrations and transplantations. It's the story of one thing placed inside another: a heart inside another person's body, a culture inside another country's culture, theatre inside a gallery, a character inside an actor, a play inside its audience.

To coincide with the Australian premiere of his colossal multimedia work Terra Nova Sinfonia Antarctica, DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid takes to the Beck's Bar for a night of infectious beats and intelligent music as he mixes avant-garde jazz, compositional music and electronica with recordings from vast audio archives.

Two of Australia's foremost musical forces come together for an historic event that celebrates songs of tradition that are rooted in hope and resistance from the open heart of Australia's contemporary Indigenous music. Hidden Republic reveals the undiminished spirit in the music of Aboriginal Australia and songs which celebrate identity and understanding for all Australians.

A remarkable exhibition from this major New Zealand artist that explores ideas about photography and the way it is viewed.

Internationally celebrated choreographer Deborah Hay trained with Merce Cunningham in the 60s and was a member of a group of the Judson Dance Theater that became one of the most radical and explosive 20th century art movements. If I Sing To You is a dance that is also a song, music, poetry and voice. It is held together through innumerable absurdly human moments choreographed and directed to engage the attention of its cast.

Utilising only a piano, a drum-machine, a pair of sunglasses and a hoodie, Kenny Mellman (he of Kiki & Herb fame) explores the connection between a gay Jewish piano-player and a black woman with a bad attitude who ruled the disco floors and the airwaves for many a year. Using Grace Jones' own interviews as text, Mellman presents a requiem for the loss of creativity in the nightlife world and a battle cry for resurrection.

A wonderfully touching and idiosyncratic work that is part theatrical monologue, part PowerPoint presentation, part psychiatrist's couch and part variety show. Revolving around a Baby Boomer's stark epiphany, 7 Important Things is a deeply personal and offbeat autobiographical work from STO Union, the acclaimed Canadian company that presented its Recent Experiences as part of the 2002 Melbourne International Arts Festival.

Andrew Sterman and Mick Rossi are two of New York's most versatile musicians. Featured artists in the Philip Glass production Book of Longing, also a 2008 Festival presentation, the duo perform for one night only at The Famous Spiegeltent in an intimate concert of original compositions and improvisations, with perhaps a jazz standard in the mix.

Combining original live music from acclaimed female vocalist New Buffalo; incisive text from award-winning playwright Ross Mueller; and featuring a fusion of dance, theatre and visual design - Appetite promises to be a literal feast.

From Jane Birkin to Cat Power, David Byrne to Antony of Antony and the Johnsons, Italian photographer Rita Antonioli has captured a swath of iconic figures and alt heroes. This exhibition presents a selection of these and more from Antonioli's vast catalogue.

Get a no-nonsense, fresh take on the Festival with this unique awards ceremony where the only opinions that matter are those of the kids!

One of Australia's most innovative dance companies moves through the confines of physical and psychological space in a highly anticipated, intelligent new work.

A magnetic and subtly electrifying solo performance from one of New York's most versatile artists. Wrapped in a weary, country twang with a raspy undertone, Cynthia Hopkins' delicate yet emotionally forceful voice has been compared to a wide range of vocalists including Billie Holiday, Natalie Merchant and Lotte Lenya; her lyrics evoking dark humor and sparkling intelligence in equal measure.

The 1919 Mexican silent film El Automovil Gris was the biggest hit of its day. This 21st century Mexican theatre production juxtaposes the classic film with live actors and brilliantly improvised piano music. This critically acclaimed work is complex and highly original, certainly, but it is also tremendous fun. A disarmingly charming production.

The genre-spanning Gloria Deluxe is a musical group fronted by composer, lyricist and performer Cynthia Hopkins. As timeless as it is immediately engaging, the unique sound of Gloria Deluxe creeps from dark country noir via wasted whiskey-toned folk to torch songs from a forgotten cabaret.

Helen Herbertson and Ben Cobham team up with long time collaborator Trevor Patrick and Nick Sommerville in this corporeal evocation of the mind's eye. Stripped back to movement, light and design essentials, Sunstruck exists in a landscape of isolation, absence and the dislocating slippage of memory, reality and the imagination.

Virtuoso ney player Kudsi Erguner brings his ensemble of vocalists, percussionists and traditional instrumentalists to BMW Edge to perform two distinct concerts each presenting a very different side to the music of Sufism.

Virtuoso ney player Kudsi Erguner brings his ensemble of vocalists, percussionists and traditional instrumentalists to BMW Edge to perform two distinct concerts each presenting a very different side to the music of Sufism.

Lynette Wallworth returns to Melbourne Festival with the Australian debut of her new work. An intimate interactive installation that responds to touch, Evolution of Fearlessness is a sequel to Wallworth's Unheard Voices: Invisible by Night. Together the two works deal with loss and its aftermath, survival and, beyond that, hope and strength.

In his contemporary reworking of Romeo and Juliet, Lithuanian director Oskaras Koršunovas' sets the infamous conflict between the Capulets and Montagues in rival pizzerias. Koršunovas' deftly handles both the humour and dark tragedy of this famous work, moving artfully from the crude and hilarious to the delicate and sombre. Equally skilful, the performances move seamlessly from the rambunctiousness of a stage that teems with characters to the heartfelt exchanges of the ill-fated lovers. Koršunovas' Romeo and Juliet bursts with movement and colour.

Originally developed in 2006, Exercises in Happiness is a big-hearted performance installation involving audiences in activities designed around the possibility of happiness.

Matthew Sleeth's use of serial photographic images seeks to bring order to the chaos around us. Pattern Recognition features a photographic series drawn from contemporary life, including abandoned umbrellas, fire extinguishers, security cameras and Ground Zero. In the process of making these images, Sleeth draws attention to the history of photography's relationship to collecting, cataloguing and obsession.

A selection of Smith's beautiful, evocative photographic work drawn from pieces created between 1967 and 2007 is enhanced by an installation work created especially for Melbourne Festival.

Bring the kids to this giant-sized game of life and plunge into a brilliantly fun, oversized adventure. Who will win? The Big Game is a gigantic, fun, interactive performance and play space for families. Kids participate as tokens in a huge board game, rolling enormous dice, stepping on game tiles and meeting larger-than-life characters that take them from start to finish.

The Meaning of Moorabbin is Open For Inspection is staged as an open inspection. Using photography, film, video and design, this is an extraordinary theatre and installation work that plays with Australian notions of family and suburbia.

Described by The New Yorker as "friendly, unpretentious, idealistic and highly skilled," this Grammy Award-winning ensemble brings its exciting new program to Melbourne.

Melbourne International Arts Festival presents Eve Sussman's acclaimed video-musical, The Rape of the Sabine Women. Filmed with a cast of hundreds, and shot on location in Athens and Hydra, Greece, and in Berlin, Germany, this improvised dramatisation pits mid-twentieth century ideals against the eternal themes of power, longing, and desire.

The company behind the groundbreaking 2007 Festival work Glow returns with a bold new dance-theatre work that gives a rare glimpse into the performers' world and takes the audience backstage. Melbourne's leading contemporary dance company Chunky Move has earned an enviable reputation for producing a distinct yet unpredictable brand of genre-defying dance performances and Two Faced Bastard promises to be another truly extraordinary experience.