Sydney Festival is thrilled to announce that multi-award winning artist PJ Harvey will be in the line-up for Sydney Festival 2012, as part of a national tour. Harvey will play Sydney's State Theatre on January 18 and 19. Limited pre-sale tickets on sale October 17.

Last in Australia in 2008, Harvey is back with a second Mercury Prize and a new album, Let England Shake.

Recorded in a church in her native Dorset, Let England Shake explores music and instrumentation while examining her country's past of blood and sacrifice on foreign battlefields and at home. The lyrics return, time and again, to the matter of war, the fate of the people who must do the fighting, and events separated by whole ages, from Afghanistan to Gallipoli. Let England Shake is filled with the mystery and magnetism in which Harvey excels.

In particular, Harvey's lyric-writing has arrived at a new, breathtaking place, with the focus placed most on the human perspective of every story. The album's depth and power won her the Mercury Prize, the most prestigious music award in the UK. Harvey is the first artist to win twice.

The dates for PJ Harvey's national tour are:
Friday 13 January - Perth, Concert Hall
Sunday 15 January - Melbourne, Regent Theatre
Wednesday 18 & Thursday 19 January - State Theatre, Sydney (Sydney Festival)
Saturday 21 January - Hobart, Princes Wharf One (MONA Festival)

The full program for Sydney Festival 2012 will be announced on November.

Pre-sale tickets have sold out. The majority of tickets will be released with our full program on November 9.