Brighton Festival, the largest annual curated multi-arts festival in England, has revealed
its programme for 2025. This year’s Guest Director, the Grammy-nominated and
genre-defying musician, composer and activist Anoushka Shankar was inspired by the
theme of ‘New Dawn’, working with Brighton Festival to shape a programme that imagines a
hopeful future after a difficult time, celebrating our collective ability to recover, take action
and come together to change the world for the better.
Brighton Festival, a major event in the international arts calendar, has a long tradition of
attracting some of the most exciting performers from across the globe, this year as far afield
as India, the US, Australia, Peru and Italy, as well as promoting local artists, and
presenting fresh, challenging new work. This year’s Festival takes place 3-26 May, with 120
events across music, theatre, dance, circus, visual arts, film, literature, debate, outdoor
and community throughout the city and beyond.
How dark it is before dawn is a major new participatory event for Brighton Festival 2025 in
which artists Doyel Joshi and Neil Ghose Balser of Howareyoufeeling.studio invite
anyone and everyone to draw their ‘New Dawn’. The hundreds or thousands of drawings
will be showcased in a final, major exhibition at The Old Courtroom showcasing the city’s
collective ideas for a new dawn and way forward. Drawing materials will be available in
locations across Brighton and everyone can get involved.
Anoushka Shankar says:
“For Brighton Festival 2025, we look towards a New Dawn. Together with the Brighton
Festival team, I’ve been shaping a programme that envisions a hopeful future – an
emergence from the dark of night into the glow of early morning. For years now there have
been many reasons to worry, to lose hope. But we have the power within us to create an
alternate future. That’s what Brighton Festival 2025 is about – let's come together to reflect,
lift each other up and take action. This is a festival for everyone to participate in, to connect
with, to feel part of. I can’t wait.”
Shankar has invited artists who have inspired her over the years, including mesmerising
Pakistani-American vocalist Arooj Aftab and Mercury Prize-nominated singer songwriter
Nadine Shah. World premiere and Brighton Festival commission Wembley is a new
performance piece written by acclaimed author and screenwriter Nikesh Shukla (The Good
Immigrant) and actors Nikesh Patel (Starstruck) and Himesh Patel (Yesterday) in the
aftermath of the UK’s 2024 race riots, wrestling with their place in this country and calling for
change.
Anoushka Shankar herself performs her new album, Chapter III: We Return to Light. With
30 years’ performing and eleven Grammy nominations, Shankar has spent her career
redefining conventions in the sitar and in world music. This performance marks the
culmination of her recent trilogy of mini-albums; following Chapter I: Forever, For Now and
Chapter II: How Dark it is Before Dawn, it completes the cycle, looking towards a new dawn
– a time of strength, wisdom and change. The event is supported by major supporters,
the Bagri Foundation.
Shankar will co-host and perform in a specially curated version of Brown Girl In The Ring,
supported by Dishoom Permit Room. The platform, founded by Sweety Kapoor, celebrates
female talent across music, film and culture – featuring an exceptional cohort of
award-winning poets, actors, dancers, musicians and activists including Mona Arshi, Nikita
Gill, Asha Puthli, Meera Syal (CBE) and Indira Varma.
In Room-i-Nation, supported by the Bagri Foundation, young virtuoso of South Indian
Karnatik music Aditya Prakash combines live music, sound, video projection and personal
stories to reflect on his experience growing up as an Indian man in America, offering a
hopeful look at bridging cultures and musical traditions.
In dance, award-winning choreographer Aakash Odedra’s spiritual and captivating solo
piece Songs of the Bulbul is inspired by the Persian myth of the caged bulbul bird’s final
song, combining Indian classical dance with Sufi kathak and Islamic poetry to create a work
of ‘exquisite beauty and sadness’ (The Scotsman). And renowned Bharatanatyam dancer
Mythili Prakash presents Jwala, a spellbinding solo performance exploring fire as a symbol
of destruction and rebirth, part of the international programme supported by Brighton
Festival principal supporter The Pebble Trust.
Brighton Festival co-commission Theatre of Dreams is the thrilling new work from the world
renowned Hofesh Shechter Company, that dives into a world of fantasy and the
subconscious, revealing hidden fears, hopes, desires and emotions, accompanied by live
musicians performing a cinematic score. AYNA is a world premiere from British-Turkish
choreographer Ceyda Tanc, set in a nightclub with a live DJ and featuring an all-female cast,
weaving Turkish folk traditions and athletic contemporary dance to explore our universal
desire for love and belonging. In circus, with support from The Pebble Trust, Australia’s Circa
return to Brighton Festival with their visionary Humans 2.0, combining acrobatics,
contemporary dance and a pulsing electronic score to deliver a groundbreaking show
that pushes physical limits to their extremes and questions what it means to be human.
The international theatre programme, supported by The Pebble Trust, includes Peruvian
theatre company Teatro La Plaza’s defiant reinvention of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, performed
by a remarkable community of actors all with Down syndrome. From Italy, The Gummy
Bears Great War is a short, unique, charming exploration of the absurdity of war, played out
on a table with real candy gummy bears.
The legendary theatre director Emma Rice and her company Wise Children take on Alfred
Hitchcock in a riotously funny reworking of North by Northwest that turns the original
thriller on its head.
Leading American feminist writer Rebecca Solnit joins former Green MP Caroline Lucas to
talk about her new collection of essays No Straight Road Takes You There, making her
case for the power of collective action. In a Brighton Festival Exclusive, writers Shon Faye
and Torrey Peters come together to discuss queer and trans love and desire alongside their
new books Love in Exile and Stag Dance. Internationally renowned author Robert
Macfarlane presents his most personal and political book yet: Is a River Alive? explores the
idea that rivers are living beings, taking readers on an exhilarating journey from Ecuador to
Southern India, to Quebec.
The Brighton Festival Film Unit screens its new documentary film about music education
hub Create Music's Orchestra 360, a music group for children and young people with
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities supported by major sponsor Mayo Wynne
Baxter, alongside its two other films, plus a special live performance from the Orchestra.
In classical, Anoushka Shankar performs her father Ravi Shankar and American composer
Philip Glass’s pioneering album Passages, for the first time since the BBC Proms in 2017,
alongside an ensemble of Indian classical musicians and the Britten Sinfonia. And the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Brighton Festival Chorus play the UK premiere of
Academy Award-winning film composer Rachel Portman’s new concerto, Tipping Point,
as part of a nature-themed programme that also includes Sibelius’s orchestral hymn to the
Finnish forests and American eco-activist composer John Luther Adams’s choral prayers to
Mother Earth.
A special performance supported by the Bagri Foundation brings together two incredible
talents for the first time: Aruna Sairam, a giant of Indian classical music and Ganavya, a
rising star who melds South Asian sounds with spiritual jazz.
In contemporary music, supported by Graves Son & Pilcher, ground-breaking electronic
artist Max Cooper brings his most ambitious show yet to the Concert Hall: an immersive
experience of luminous sculptures created with projections, lights and lasers accompanying
his legendary ambient and beat-driven soundscapes. And Shiva Soundsystem's founder
Nerm welcomes his friends and top secret star guests to the decks for a super special
closing party for Brighton Festival 2025.
In the world premiere Beside the Sea, photographers Martin Parr and JJ Waller have come
together to create a ground-breaking exhibition of supersized photographs that can only be
seen from the top deck of a bus fixed to the flat roofs of many of the city’s bus shelters.
For children and young people, Future City: Brighton 2125 calls all young makers,
inventors and creators to come to Brighton Dome Corn Exchange to build a Brighton & Hove
of the future using recycled materials. Supported by Brighton College Prep School, Pocket
Shakespeare is a celebration of the ‘best bits’ of Shakespeare with former Children’s
Laureates Michael Rosen and Chris Riddell, with live illustration and a lot of laughs.
Without Walls returns with plenty of free, family-friendly events in outdoor locations across
Brighton and Crawley including Hydropunk, a fun and interactive installation in which
participants must work together to conserve and recycle 1,000 litres of water; Eshu at the
Crossroads, which brings the vibrancy of Yoruba culture to life with dance, puppetry and
music, and Go Grandad, Go!, a hip-hop dance and theatre show exploring intergenerational
family relationships.
The Children’s Parade, supported by Brighton Girls, is back for opening weekend, and, after
its roaring success last year, Brighton Table Tennis Club returns with a Table Tennis Day
for the whole family, with 20 tables, music and food, and Paralympic medal winners Will
Bayley and Bly Twomey.
Lucy Davies, Chief Executive of Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival says:
“Brighton Festival 2025 is a magnificent body of work – inclusive, generous, global,
confident, inter-generational, classical and very cool. Anoushka Shankar has guided, created
and curated a very brilliant set of projects which radiate care – for one another, the planet,
art, music, ourselves. There are unique events in here which will be memory-making – lucky
people of the future will be able to say ‘I was there.’ That is what Brighton Festival is all
about. I’m honoured and excited to share it with the world.”
Brighton Festival 2025 is indebted to the steadfast support of funders Brighton & Hove City
Council and Arts Council England; Principal Supporter The Pebble Trust; Major
Supporter the Bagri Foundation; Major Sponsor Mayo Wynne Baxter; Higher Education
Partner University of Sussex; and wider supporters, donors, patrons and members.
Dean Orgill, Chief Executive at Mayo Wynne Baxter says:
“Mayo Wynne Baxter has been serving the people and businesses of Sussex for
generations, much like Brighton Festival's enduring legacy of enriching our community
through the arts. This year's 'New Dawn' theme resonates deeply with our commitment to
progress and inclusivity. We are thrilled to once again sponsor Brighton Festival, celebrating
the power of arts and culture to connect and inspire all."
Dr Alka Bagri, Trustee, Bagri Foundation says:
"We are delighted to support Brighton Festival 2025 under the artistic direction of Anoushka
Shankar. This year celebrates the vibrant heritage of South Asian talent while fostering
meaningful creative collaborations. It is exciting to champion such dynamic programming,
and we cannot wait for audiences to discover the transformative power and rich storytelling
traditions of South Asian music."
Brighton Festival takes place from 3-26 May 2025. Visit brightonfestival.org for more
information.
Join the conversation:
#BrightonFestival2025
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Key facts about Brighton Festival 2025
● 120 events, exhibitions and installations from 3-26 May 2025
● 45 free events, performances and workshops
● 15 Brighton Festival Commissions, plus a further 8 premieres and exclusives
● 111 performances with tickets £10 or less, plus £10 Festival Standbys for concession groups
available on most events. The Pay It Forward scheme also supports free ticket vouchers for
community organisations
About Brighton Festival
Established in 1967, Brighton Festival is the largest and most established annual curated multi-arts
festival in England. Taking place over three weeks in May, the Festival is a celebration of music,
theatre, dance, art, film, literature, debate, outdoor and community events in venues and locations
across Brighton, Hove and Sussex.
Since 2009, Brighton Festival has attracted inspiring and internationally significant Guest Directors
who bring cohesion to the artistic programme. The inaugural Guest Director was Anish Kapoor and
the post has subsequently been held by prominent cultural figures such as Kae Tempest, Lemn
Sissay, Laurie Anderson and in 2024 Frank Cottrell-Boyce.
Website: brightonfestival.org
About Anoushka Shankar
Anoushka Shankar’s list of accomplishments make impressive reading. She’s a masterful sitarist; film
composer; impassioned activist; the youngest and first female recipient of a British House of
Commons Shield; the first Indian musician to perform live or to serve as presenter at the Grammy
Awards with eleven nominations under her belt, and the first Indian woman to be nominated; one of
the first five female composers to have been added onto the UK A-level music syllabus. Immersed
from a young age on the world stage, with over a quarter-century’s performing behind her, she is a
singular, genre-defying artist across realms - classical and contemporary, acoustic and electronic.
Anoushka began studying the sitar - and Indian classical music - from the age of nine under the
tutelage of her father, Ravi Shankar. After making her professional debut at thirteen, she began
touring worldwide alongside her father before embarking on a successful solo career when she was
18.
Having released three classical albums by the age of 25, the switch to electronic music, on 2005’s
Rise was fuelled by a desire “to speak the language of my own history: growing up across three
continents with one foot in the past and one in the present.”
She has collaborated with diverse artists including Herbie Hancock, Patti Smith, Joshua Bell, Sting,
Gold Panda, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Jules Buckley and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Her touring career
has taken her from legendary jazz cafes to festival stages in front of 40,000 people.
Anoushka is also an activist. She has been outspoken about her experiences as a woman and a
survivor of child abuse, throwing her weight behind campaigns such as One Billion Rising. She works
with organisations such as the UNHCR and Help Refugees to raise funds and awareness for the
refugee crisis.
Website: anoushkashankar.com
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