1998

The 1999 Sydney Festival opened in splendid style with William Walton’s mighty choral work Belshazzar’s Feast, performed by 80 members of the London Symphony Chorus, members of Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and the Sydney Festival Orchestra.

In his third and final year as Festival Director, Anthony Steel pulled out all the stops with Kelly’s Republic, staged on the Sydney Opera House forecourt. It was the largest work ever commissioned by the Festival, and one of six world premieres of Australian theatre productions.