RISING 2024: Dirty Three, Fever Ray + ONEFOUR Lead Music Program For Melbourne

Melbourne's festival of new music, art, and performance, RISING, is gearing up for an epic 2024 program set to transform the city into a vibrant stage from June 1 to 16.

With 105 events, over 480 artists, 23 new commissions, 6 world premieres, and 8 Australian premieres, the festival provides visitors with an immersive experience across sixteen nights, spanning three epic weekends.

RISING will breathe life into the city's streets, venues, and hidden spaces, featuring large-scale installations, free public events, and world-class contemporary music, theatre, and dance.

The program aims to showcase Melbourne in a new light, with transformed landmarks and hidden gems, inviting audiences to explore the city's labyrinthine laneways into iconic gathering spaces. Fed Square, hosted by MAPCO and curated by Kimberley Moulton and Kate ten Buuren, will host The Blak Infinite—a vibrant forum of First Peoples' art, politics, and cosmic connections.

Richard Bell's installation EMBASSY, inspired by the original Aboriginal Tent Embassy, will be a focal point, featuring film screenings and talks with activists, writers, and artists.

First Nations soprano and composer Deborah Cheetham AO's monumental sound work, The Rivers Sing, returns, blending field recordings with human voices along the Birrarung. International dance-floor phenomenon SHOUSE will conduct Communitas, a mass-choir experience beneath the vaulted ceilings of St Paul's Cathedral.

“RISING 2024 is a festival that belongs to Naarm, Melbourne. Some of the most exciting voices in art, music and performance offer moments of catharsis and reflection with mass music making in a church or summoning the cosmos in our town square.” said RISING co-artistic directors Hannah Fox and Gideon Obarzanek, “The most important part is coming together to be thrilled, bemused, shaken or delighted.”

Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events Steve Dimopoulos added, “A packed program of amazing cultural experiences will see RISING ignite Melbourne’s winter again in 2024, bringing visitors into the city to revel in this major event filled with art, music and performance."

The music program boasts a diverse lineup, featuring Melbourne icons Dirty Three, Western Sydney drill trailblazers ONEFOUR — who will kick off their first explosive headline show in Melbourne at Festival Hall — US hip hop icon Yasiin Bey, and Swedish electro-pop singer Fever Ray. Yasiin Bey will perform his masterpiece, The Ecstatic Anniversary, at PICA, paying tribute to the late MF Doom.

Day Tripper, co-presented with Triple R, will take over Melbourne Town Hall, offering a live mixtape of music, performance, art, and film.

The theatre, dance, and performance program includes world premieres and epic commissions. ILBIJERRI Theatre Company presents Big Name No Blankets, a rock 'n' roll story celebrating the Warumpi Band. Geoff Sobelle's FOOD explores human consumption, while Carolina Bianchi's Cadela Força Trilogy confronts sexual violence in theatre.

Other highlights include Melanie Lane's dance opera Arkadia, Justin Shoulder's ANITO, and Suhani Shah's mind-blowing mentalist performance. The festival concludes with a free exhibition of Rennie Ellis's photography at the State Library of Victoria, capturing the essence of Australian life.

RISING 2024 will transform Melbourne into a celebration of art, music, and performance from June 1 to 16.

RISING 

Date: 1—16 June 2024

RISING subscribers presale from 12pm, Tuesday 12 March.
Subscribe for instant presale access at rising.melbourne/subscribe

General public tickets on sale 12pm, Thursday 14 March at rising.melbourne/subscribe

Book tickets to three or more eligible events in one transaction via the RISING website and automatically get 15% off the standard ticket price.