Festival giant Blenkinsop dies
The curtain has come down on the life of David Blenkinsop, whose energy and vision helped transform the Perth International Arts Festival into one of the world's major cultural events.
Mr Blenkinsop died yesterday after a five-year fight with Alzheimers disease. He was 77.
The man known as Blenkie to WA arts lovers was the longest-serving director of the Festival of Perth, as PIAF was known during his 23 years at the helm.
From 1977 to 1999, he led Perth's evolution from a cultural sleepy hollow to an influential player on the global arts festival circuit as the Festival grew into an internationally renowned cultural showcase.
Born in Leeds, Yorkshire, in 1937, Mr Blenkinsop worked as a BBC reporter and concert manager of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra before migrating to WA in 1976 with his wife Lynn and sons Philip and Andrew.
He had just six months to pull together his first festival.
Mr Blenkinsop was the first Australian festival director to promote contemporary dance and extended the internationalism of the Festival beyond the English-speaking world to central Europe, Africa, South America and Asia.
Among his many highlights, he toured orchestras of world standing, introduced film programs, a writers' festival, street theatre, commissioned new works from multicultural backgrounds and introducing exotic, foreign-language plays.
The many first-time Perth visitors included the Israel Philharmonic orchestra led by Zubin Mehta, the Maly Theatre of St Petersburg, Twyla Tharp Dance Company, Compagnie Philippe Genty, Rustaveli Theatre Company and Peter Brook's dusk-to-dawn Indian folk epic Mahabharata.
His honours include being made a Member of the Order of Australia and a Companion of the Order of the British Empire.
Last year, he made an emotional appearance at the Helpmann Awards at the Sydney Opera House with his wife Lynn to receive the highest accolade in Australian live entertainment, the JC Williamson Award.
He also was a noted philanthropist and supported Musica Viva, the WA Symphony Orchestra, Tura New Music and WA Academy of Performing Arts.
