Antony Hegarty to take control at Meltdown 2012

The Southbank Centre have announced that the nineteenth Meltdown will be artistically directed by Antony Hegarty, best known as the lead singer of Antony and The Johnsons.

Meltdown 2012 will see Antony create a line-up over the duration of the festival of not just music, but also debate and performance that will reflect his interests, influences and passions.

Born in West Sussex his family moved the San Francisco Bay Area of California when he was young. Antony begun his career in the New York underground scene, before emerging with Antony and the Johnsons in 1998 and found prominence with the Mercury Prize-winning album 'I am a Bird Now'. Since then his projects have included the albums 'The Crying Light' and 'Swanlights'. His performances have ranged from collaborations with symphony orchestras and performance artists to last summer's 'The Life and Death of Marina Abramović', directed by Robert Wilson.

Most recently Antony and the Johnsons performed Swanlights commissioned by The Museum of Modern Art to a sold out crowd at Radio City Music Hall. The full line-up for the annual festival is still to be announced.

Antony said, "I want to create a kind of paradise. I want to walk through that forest and see and hear the hardcore beauty and strength in art and music that makes sense to me. The weather is changing and everybody knows it. I want to participate; What is my relationship and responsibility to the world around me? Frontier expressions of emotion and beauty can be fantastic tools with which to enter that discussion."

He follows in the footsteps of past Meltdown directors Ray Ravies, Richard Thompson, Ornette Coleman, Massive Attack, John Peel, Robert Wyatt, Scott Walker, David Bowie, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Morrissey, Patti Smith and Jarvis Cocker, curating a festival that will take place across the Southbank Centre site and reflect the diversity of his career and enduring influence.

Meltdown takes place over all 21 acres of the Southbank Centre, including the riverside, Royal Festival Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall. The dates for Meltdown 2012 are confirmed as Wednesday 1st until Sunday 12th August 2012.

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