The English tenor and Schubert scholar will bring a radical reimagining of Schubert’s icy journey to PIAF.

The Perth International Arts Festival has released a teaser of the events lined up for the 2017 festival, including a radical reimagining of Schubert’s well-loved song cycle Winterreise.

In a performance titled The Dark Mirror, English tenor, Schubert scholar and leading Lieder interpreter Ian Bostridge will join a chamber group from the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra – conducted by Baldur Brönnimann – to present Hans Zender’s “composed interpretation” of Schubert’s masterpiece in the cabaret style of post-Weimar Germany. Singer and orchestra will be accompanied by video and imagery by opera director/designer Netia Jones.

^{Ian Bostridge will sing Die Winterreise} 

Also announced are Boorna Waanginy: The Trees Speak and Richard Nelson’s The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family. For the former, Perth’s Kings Park will be transformed into a cathedral of light, sound and imagery in a walk-though experience that will explore the beauty, flora and fauna of the six seasons of South Western Australia in an event by director Nigel Jamieson. Following the success of 2016’s Home, Jamieson will be working with members of the Noongar community, including storytellers, artists, botanists and scientists.

^{Boorna Waanginy: The Trees Speak will turn King’s Park into a cathedral of light}

Particularly apt following close on the heels of the USA’s presidential election, The Gabriels is a trilogy – which will be experience as one marathon event – by Tony Award-winning playwright Richard Nelson. The three plays – Hungry, What Did You Expect and Women of a Certain Age follow a family of upstate New Yorkers trying to make sense of a fast-changing world in a powerful reflection on the minutiae of contemporary American life.

This is, of course, just a teaser, the full programme of events will be released November 2.

The Perth International Arts Festival will run from February 10 to March 5, 2017