The Sydney Festival presents a feast of culture in the city each summer, but there is no denying it can be an expensive outing.
For director Olivia Ansell's fourth and final line-up, the festival tackles the cost-of-living crisis not through artistic interpretation, but with $49 tickets.
A limited number of these early-bird tickets will available across the 2025 program of 130 shows and events, including 22 world premieres.
"We really wanted to make sure that people feel like they can engage with multiple events in the program, rather than feel the cost of living has impacted that," Ansell told AAP.
In addition, 50 of those events are free including at least 12 nights of live music across the city.
One of Ansell's standouts on the 2025 bill is an immersive theatre production about the true crime tale of Shirley Beiger, a model who shot dead her lover Arthur Griffith outside the ritzy Chequers nightclub in 1954.
It was a sensational story at the time, especially when Beiger was acquitted after a trial held in the Darlinghurst Courthouse.
The new production, A Model Murder, is staged in the very same venue where Beiger was tried.
"It's Rake meets Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie, meets Chicago," said Ansell.
Another highlight is the world premiere of an opera about world-famous magic duo Siegfried and Roy, staged at Sydney Theatre Company's Wharf 1 Theatre.
It's the story of their inseparable pair and their beloved white tiger Mantacore - what could possibly go wrong with a tiger for a muse?
Ansell has already started work on her next gig as director of Canada's Locarno Festival, with Kris Nelson taking over as artistic director from 2026 to 2029.
Reflecting on her time at the helm, Ansell has expended the festival's footprint, finding a place for art in some unexpected locations.
"To be able to give a festival a uniquely Sydney flavour, and represent the city's personality have been hugely important," she said.
One highlight was staging a free Puccini opera on the Lightship Carpentaria in Darling Harbour in 2024.
In 2025, the festival sees the Sydney Town Hall transformed into the wild west for Dark Noon, a theatre piece that tears down Hollywood tropes and builds a prairie town in real time.
Ansell started at the Sydney Festival festival during the pandemic, and hopes the annual event has made a contribution to the recovery of the arts sector.
The Sydney Festival runs January 4-26.
