With 44 days until the Festival kicks off, artists everywhere are bunkered down in rehearsals. Check out this video from behind the scenes at Concrete and Bone Sessions and this sneaky instagram from Murder rehearsals.

Festival Director Lieven Bertels caught the premiere of Legs on The Wall's Symphony last week and not only did he love it, but so did the 11 and 14 year olds he took along. With music from Faker's Stefan Gregory, bring your teenagers!

Archie Roach premiered his Into The Bloodstream concert in Melbourne last week. Check out this inspiring interview, including some live songs on 702 ABC Sydney. 

We've sent our Production Manager to New Zealand to see a man about a duck and we're waiting impatiently for a postcard while The Secret River is also in rehearsals but no luck sneaking in a camera so far. We'll keep you updated. 

And while we're talking multimedia, our 2011 show Minto Live gets a huge wrap in this TED Global talk. It's an interesting look at the role of arts festivals in cities. Tell us what you think on Twitter. 

Sydney Festival returns to The Concourse in Chatswood this January with two very different shows.

Pianists Guy Vandromme and Alain Franco take on Erik Satie’s Vexations, a proto-minimalist motif that anticipates Reich, Riley and Glass by almost 70 years. Satie mischievously instructed that the piece be played 840 times (over 18 hours). This performance however, will feature just two sets of 42 repetitions on grand pianos arranged tail-to-tail. Join us for complimentary wine at interval.

Join France's Orchestre National de Jazz for their homage to British art rocker Robert Wyatt. The Grammy-nominated 10-piece ensemble will explore the subtleties of Wyatt’s intriguing songbook with joyous music that defies genre definitions. All About Jazz described it as, “A gorgeous piece of exquisitely orchestrated pop music, a modern variant of the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds”. Don't miss it!

The Times (UK) gave it five stars and described Royal Shakespeare Company's The Rape of Lucrece as "a triumph, strange and gripping and honest."

In this one-woman performance of Shakespeare's beautiful and violent poem, Irish chanteuse Camille O’Sullivan inhabits the roles of Tarquin and Lucrece, narrating both their fates through  storytelling and song, with original live music by Feargal Murray.

Join us at The Seymour Centre for this rarely performed piece of Shakespeare. Tickets on sale now.

Have you checked out the newly opened The Morrison yet? Chef Sean Connolly’s seasonal produce, cooked on the bone and in the shell where possible, make The Morrison a great new addition to Sydney dining.

During the Festival you'll be able to grab a Fast Festival Feast of a dozen of Australia’s finest oysters shucked to order for $30 or enjoy The Morrison signature cocktail of freshly juiced Granny Smith apples blended with American rye - half price with your Sydney Festival ticket.

With all these apples and oysters, it got us thinking about local produce and the Festival's Australian works. From the beauty of Archie Roach's music to the skatepark magic of Concrete and Bone Sessions, the outrageousness of Briefs and the unpredictability of The Blind Date Project, there's something Australian for every taste.

To celebrate, we've got a $200 voucher for The Morrison up for grabs. To enter, tell us the Australian work you're most excited about and why. Email competition@sydneyfestival.org.au with the subject line "THE MORRISON".

Where else on a Friday night can you have your fortune told by the innards of a fish, experience a blindfolded date, drink in a rabbits-only bar and go to a rock star hotel room afterparty?

Enter the intriguing world of The Rocks Village Bizarre for a quirky, curious, spontaneous night out, as The Rocks' intimate laneways come alive every Friday 6.30pm to 10pm until December 21. To win a double pass to Uta Uber Kool Ja’s (pictured) extraordinary hotel room afterparty, email your details to competition@sydneyfestival.org.au with the subject line "BIZARRE".