An expanded Moon Garden offering, events spread across the city, a program featuring more than 200 artists from 14 different countries and, of course, a feast of incredible flavours – these are just some of the highlights of the 2025 OzAsia Festival.
This year’s festival, one of the best-loved on the SA festival calendar, is growing its footprint – stretching out from its spiritual home at the Festival Centre and riverbank to include shows at the Adelaide Town Hall, Her Majesty’s Theatre, the Odeon Theatre and even the Botanic Garden.
And there will even be more time to soak it all up, with OzAsia adding an extra weekend to help South Australians catch everything they want to see.
For Festival Director Joon-Yee Kwok, this all adds up to a wonderful celebration of the art and culture of our nearest continental neighbour.
Joon, at the helm of her second OzAsia, says that the popular festival’s reputation was growing across the nation and across Asia.
"It’s such an honour to be able to lead a festival like OzAsia that is so well respected and so well known," she said.
"And the number of artists and arts organisations in Asia that are now aware of the festival is incredible. So many people now want to be a part of it, so that’s really great to know."
For Joon, a priority of her time as director has been making OzAsia as inclusive as possible, something she continues to strive for.
"Access and inclusion is something that’s so important to me," she said.
"We have a lot of free events and they are a really great way to engage audiences that may not have engaged with the arts before.
"Events like the Moon Lantern Trail and the Lucky Dumpling Market are really accessible ways to engage with the festival.
"And one of the things that we like to try to do is introduce audiences who come to our free events to our ticketed program as well.
"So it's really been a case of looking for those entry points into the program to cater for as many people as possible."
The philosophy carries across to the programming itself, with Joon saying she is constantly looking for ways to "represent as many people as possible" on OzAsia’s many stages.
"One thing I’m really passionate about is seniors, and I think that often our seniors aren’t given enough opportunity to be seen," Joon said.
"There are so many incredible older artists who should still be gracing our stages."
This attitude is reflected in the choice of William Yang, acclaimed Australian artist and proud octogenarian, as one of the festival’s headliners.
Yang will reflect on his extraordinary life in Milestone at Adelaide Town Hall on Friday 31 October, exploring themes of family, sexuality, and culture with his signature humour and candour.
Weaving together documentary photographs with personal stories, Milestone is a joyous tribute to an Australian icon set against an exquisite score composed and performed by Elena Kats-Chernin with Ensemble Lumen.
Music lovers will rejoice at the inclusion of Grammy award-winning pianist Hiromi, who will join forces with renowned string quartet PUBLIQuartet, to present a breathtaking blend of jazz and classical composition in The Piano Quintet for one night only on Tuesday 28 October at Adelaide Town Hall.
For lovers of stand up, Her Majesty’s Theatre will host The Special Comedy Comedy Special: Greatest Debate, an hilarious night featuring Michael Hing, AJ Lamarque, Alex Lee, Lawrence Leung, Sashi Perera and Kushi Venkatesh debating "the new Australian dream is never moving out".
Look forward to a night of real estate, rice cookers and repressed emotions, moderated by ABC Radio Adelaide’s Jason Chong.
And for something a little more highbrow Monica Lim and Mindy Meng Wang will reimagine the connection between life and death in immersive, multi-artform performance Opera for the Dead, a contemporary Chinese cyber-opera at the Odeon Theatre for those who find beauty in darkness and humour in the macabre.
OzAsia Festival favourite Lucky Dumpling Market returns to Elder Park from October 17, kicking off 
with a free Opening Night Party featuring live music by multiple ARIA-nominated artist and songwriter Mo’Ju.
And families will be able to follow the spectacular 40m-long Hong Kong Dragon lantern across the Riverbank Footbridge and see more than a dozen giant lanterns light up Tarntanya Wama/Pinky Flat for the beloved Moon Lantern Trail.
And this year’s Moon Garden program featuring roving performances, giant puppets and delectable food will run from Thursday 23 to Sunday 26 October, featuring performances and workshops for all ages by local artists and communities, including lantern-making, origami, calligraphy and storytelling.
With plenty of free workshops, masterclasses, and talks also on offer, stay up to date on program details here (external site).
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