PERLE NOIRE
This event has finished
It was held on Wednesday 4 March 2026.
About This Event
PERLE NOIRE: Meditations for Joséphine — soprano Julia Bullock's staged song cycle on Josephine Baker, composed by Tyshawn Sorey and directed by Peter Sellars — played Her Majesty's Theatre on 4 March 2026 as part of Adelaide Festival 2026.
PERLE NOIRE: Meditations for Joséphine made its Australian premiere at Her Majesty's Theatre Adelaide on Wednesday 4 March 2026 as part of Adelaide Festival 2026.
Conceived by American soprano Julia Bullock, composed by Pulitzer Prize-winning Tyshawn Sorey, and directed by theatre and opera auteur Peter Sellars, this staged song cycle reimagines the repertoire of Josephine Baker — the African-American Jazz Age icon, French Resistance hero and civil-rights activist — through Sorey's contemporary chamber-ensemble re-orchestrations.
The result was equal parts cabaret, requiem and political address — Bullock's powerhouse vocals carrying songs Baker made famous (J'ai Deux Amours, Bye Bye Blackbird, Un Evening in Caroline) into new harmonic territory, with Sellars' minimalist staging stripping the work back to language, gesture and presence.
Date: Wednesday 4 March 2026
Venue: Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide
Part of: Adelaide Festival 2026
This production has now concluded.
