Four Winds has announced the appointment of internationally celebrated and renowned Artistic and Festival Director Lindy Hume to the role of Creative Director of the Four Winds Easter Festival for the next two years; Easter 2021 and 2022.
Lindy’s appointment is particularly exciting, not only because of the creative leadership she will bring to the Four Winds Festival but because of her tangible link to the Far South Coast through her home in the region.
“Everyone at Four Winds is excited at the prospect of working with Lindy,” said Michael Darling, Chair of Four Winds. “Her personal commitment to the Far South Coast, to the abundant creativity of this region and to extraordinary experiences for audiences resonate really strongly with Four Winds.
“In these times it feels right to focus on our exceptional local community and to look forward to coming together through a Festival with music at its heart guided by a hugely experienced and visionary Creative Director such as Lindy.”
The role of Creative Director is a freshly conceived leadership position focused on Four Winds internationally regarded Four Winds Easter Festival. The 2021 Festival will mark Four Winds 21st birthday.
“With the recent announcement of a new artistic model for Four Winds, signalling a shift in strategic direction and expanded scope, the opportunity to take on this new role of Creative Director of Four Winds Festival for 2021 and 2022 was simply irresistible,” said Lindy.
“I am delighted to embark on this new creative adventure in my home community on Yuin Country. My deep connection with the Far South Coast of NSW began with a weekend visiting friends who live at Barragga Bay, a place whose ravishing beauty still takes my breath away.”
“How thrilling to return here as Creative Director of Four Winds’ beloved Easter Festival, whose magnificent amphitheatre is its epicentre. Both have long been for me iconic sites of excellence in outdoor performance and regional leadership.”
“The fact that this is not the easiest time to organise a festival makes it all the more vital that we do! The Four Winds team and I look forward to creating and sharing the most beautiful, brilliant and life-affirming celebration of art and artistry that we possibly can, and to once more gathering under the spotted gums in glorious Barragga Bay, at Easter 2021,” said Lindy.
Lindy Hume is an award-winning director whose accomplishments include terms as Festival Director of Sydney Festival (2010-2012) and Artistic Director of Perth International Arts Festival (2004-2007). Lindy has been artistic director of several of Australasia’s major performing arts institutions including West Australian Opera, Victoria State Opera, OzOpera and Artistic Director of Opera Queensland (OperaQ).
She has created over 50 major productions around Australia, and internationally, she has directed productions for major companies including Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin, Leipzig Opera and Opernhaus Halle (Germany), Opera Theatre St Gallen (Switzerland), Musiektheater Transparant (Belgium), the Swedish Royal Opera House (2017), Aldeburgh Festival (UK) and New Zealand Opera; and in the USA, for Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera and San Diego Opera.
Her freelance productions also included a season of Gluck’s Iphigenie en Tauride for Sydney’s Pinchgut Opera, described by Harriet Cunningham of The Sydney Morning Herald as “a near perfect production.”
In 2007 she was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters by The University of Western Australia in recognition of her contribution to the cultural life of Western Australia. A passionate advocate for excellence in regional arts in Australia, Lindy has served as Chair of South East Arts (2011-2014) and on the board of Regional Arts NSW (2010-2016).
Her 2017 Currency House Platform Paper – Restless Giant: Changing Cultural values in Regional Australia imagines a future national cultural landscape in which regional creativity is a driving force.
Lindy is also presently engaged as Artistic Director for Ten Days on the Island, Tasmania and has a home on the far south coast of NSW in Tathra.
For more information about Four Winds and the Easter Festival, visit: www.fourwinds.com.au for details.
Image: Lindy Hume – photo by Michelle Dupont