Bleach* Festival has announced its 2019 program, Louise Bezzina’s final festival as Artistic Director before she takes the reins at the Brisbane Festival, with a monumental performance of Verdi’s Requiem at its heart. The performance, a collaboration between Bleach*, Opera Queensland and the Queensland Conservatorium, announced with Opera Queensland’s 2019 season, will see Natalie Murray Beale conduct Verdi’s “opera in ecclesiastical vestments” at the Home of the Arts, with a cast including soprano Natalie Aroyan, mezzo-soprano Milijana Nikolic, tenor Rosario La Spina and bass-baritone Andrew Collis, in an under-the-stars production with lighting and video design by Mark Howett.

“Verdi’s Requiem provides the perfect score for a powerful moment in time, taking the Requiem as a symbol of new beginnings for both the City and the Festival,” Bezzina said, describing the performance as “an invitation to gather and look within ourselves.”

Bleach* FestivalThe Farm’s Throttle. Photo supplied

Other highlights of the festival include Throttle, a drive-in “B-grade thriller” by the award-winning Gold Coast dance company The Farm (whose work Tide at last year’s Bleach* Festival saw two performers working in an office built on a sandbar) and Dance North’s Tectonic, a dynamic piece addressing climate change...