The 2025 Brisbane Festival is back and happening now. Running until September 27, this annual event features performances, installations, and various events lighting up the city.
Here are some highlights, with links for more information, that the festival organisers thought might make you want to head down to Brisbane for a look.
The Platypus:
10 – 13 Sep | QPAC Cremorne Theatre
Written and directed by well-known actor Francis Greenslade (Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell, Winners and Losers) and performed by John Leary (The Good Place, Glitch, The Letdown, Upper Middle Bogan) and Rebecca Bower (The Spooky Files, Offspring, Wentworth), The Platypus is a genre-busting delight — an outrageously clever, wildly entertaining play about theatre, relationships, and the roles we all play. www.brisbanefestival.com.au/events/the-platypus
100 Guitars:
14 Sep | Brisbane Powerhouse
Experience music like never before at 100 Guitars, a breathtaking sonic and social event coming to Brisbane Festival 2025. This isn’t just a concert — it’s a powerful, site-specific performance featuring 100 electric guitarists from communities across the city, uniting to create an unforgettable surround-sound spectacle. Founded by renowned Canadian composer and guitarist Tim Brady in 2015. Page link: www.brisbanefestival.com.au/events/100-guitars
The Chronicles:
10 – 13 Sep | Thomas Dixon Centre
Created by Stephanie Lake – Twelve of the country’s top contemporary dancers meet a masterful electro-acoustic score by Robin Fox, which blends driving rhythms with the stirring, ethereal sounds of a children’s choir (the Voices of Birralee) and singer Oliver Mann performing live on stage. Page link: www.brisbanefestival.com.au/events/the-chronicles
Baleen Moondjan:
18 – 21 Sep | Queen’s Wharf Brisbane
In his first major commission since leaving Bangarra Dance Theatre, creative visionary Stephen Page brings his contemporary ceremony to his hometown. Inspired by a story from Stephen’s grandmother from the Ngugi/Nunukul/Moondjan people of Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island), Baleen Moondjan celebrates the First Nations’ relationships between baleen whales and Communities’ totemic systems. Page link: www.brisbanefestival.com.au/events/baleen-moondjan
Camerata – Your Eternal Memories
13 Sep | QPAC Concert Hall
Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra will be joined by distinguished Australian actor and long-term Camerata collaborator, Barbara Lowing, to narrate the concert, and the remarkable Australian singer/songwriter Kate Miller-Heidke will provide her iconic vocals for a selection of songs at this unmissable event.
Exploring the theme eternal memory, inspired by John Tavener’s Eternal Memory for cello and strings, Camerata invited audiences to share their eternal or special memories to curate a concert of music inspired by personal recollections. Page link: www.brisbanefestival.com.au/events/camerata-your-eternal-memories
Skylore — Nieergoo: Spirit of the Whale
25 – 27 Sep | Queen’s Wharf and South Bank
Skylore is a larger-than-life highlight of Brisbane Festival and a bright and bold celebration of our city, celebrating Culture and place. Now in its third annual iteration, Skylore has become a staple of the Festival.
Back by popular demand, Nieergoo: Spirit of the Whale returns to illuminate Brisbane’s skyline. Watch as hundreds of drones soar above the Brisbane River as Traditional Owner Yuggera and Toorabul man Shannon Ruska and Tribal Experiences retell this powerful story of Culture, Country, and connection to place, with original composition by Guy Webster. Page link: www.brisbanefestival.com.au/events/skylore
Craig and Karl: Public Art Trail
5 – 27 Sep
Craig and Karl will be popping up all over Brisbane, activating iconic city sites with their signature colours and inflatables. Along with taking over the walking bridges in larger-than-life installations for ANZ’s Walk This Way, locations across Brisbane will transform into a citywide Public Art Trail.
Join Brisbane Festival for a guided walking tour to discover all that the citywide Craig and Karl takeover has to offer. These free, small-group tours offer exclusive insights from the artists and plot their journey from burgeoning local artists to global design superstars. Page link: www.brisbanefestival.com.au/events/craig-and-karl-public-art-trail
