Glyndebourne, in its first season performing in the Adelaide festival, will present Jonathon Dove's Flight, a comic opera about travelers stranded in an airport. Flight, with a libretto by April de Angelis, premiered at Boston Lyric Opera last spring, and was first presented by Glyndebourne in August.

Australian Dance Theatre will present Devolution, a production that sets dancers with prosthetic limbs against robotic creatures.

According to the Herald, the 2006 events, the work of new artistic director Brett Sheehy, marks the festival's return to the elite international opera, music, and dance after six years of indifferent programming.

Sheehy, who has directed the Sydney Festival four times, said, "I do think in the last decade or so, Adelaide has lots its kind of specialness. I just wondered if there was a way to grab back the baton, and I think there is."

The opening-night features Italy's Compagnia de Valerio Festi in an open-air spectacle that includes acrobatics, giant helium spheres, and the tolling of the city's church bells.