ADELAIDE.- International stage and screen star Isabelle Huppert as Mary Queen of Scots, and a three-concert series by renowned French choir and orchestra Ensemble Pygmalion, are the first on-sale events and Australian exclusives in the 2026 Adelaide Festival program.

Last seen at Adelaide Festival in 2012, Isabelle Huppert brings her trademark virtuosity to her portrayal of one of history’s most enigmatic women in Mary Said What She Said. With a book by American novelist Darryl Pinckney and a score by Italian pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi, the one-woman show is performed in French with English surtitles.

Rich in the symbolism and imagery that earned director and designer Robert Wilson the title of “world’s foremost vanguard theatre artist” before his recent death in July 2025, Isabelle’s hypnotic and mesmerising depiction has captivated audiences in New York, Korea, London and Paris. It comes to Adelaide Festival for only three exclusive performances, following a season in Tokyo in October.

Mary Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart, was a woman who battled the forces of history in order to control her own destiny. Mary Said What She Said is her testimony drawn from her letters about her involvement in some of the most notorious plots of her time. She is lying, but on the eve of execution, and as she faces martyrdom after nineteen years in captivity, has fear persuaded her that she is telling the truth?

Ensemble Pygmalion makes its long-awaited Australian debut at the 2026 Adelaide Festival. Its founder and director, Raphaël Pichon, formed the ensemble in 2006 with a view to both reinterpret and highlight the links between works by many great baroque music composers. On stage, Pygmalion collaborates with directors such as Romeo Castellucci, Katie Mitchell, Aurélien Bory, Simon McBurney, Jetske Mijnssen, Pierre Audi, Valérie Lesort, Christian Hecq and Michel Fau.

Ensemble Pygmalion regularly performs on the most prestigious French stages, including the Philharmonie de Paris, the Opéra de Versailles, the Opéra-Comique and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. International city appearances have included Hamburg, Cologne, Frankfurt, Essen, Vienna, Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, Barcelona and Brussels.

Ensemble Pygmalion will perform three concerts across Adelaide Festival:

- Bach: Good Night World: a program exploring both Bach’s music and that of his forebears, which was so deeply important to him on a personal and musical level. Responding to the tumult of the time, including the Thirty Years War, these composers sought to inspire their listeners with a sense of consolation, hope and beauty: themes which resonate with us today and ensure Bach’s enduring legacy

- Orfeo by Luigi Rossi: the first-ever French opera, written by Italian composer Rossi while in exile in Paris and debuting in 1647, and then lost for over 300 years. Based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, Pygmalion’s production brings to life their tragic tale of love and heartbreak

- Monteverdi’s Vespers: Monteverdi’s first published work of sacred music (1610), which instantly whisks the audience to golden-age Venice in Saint Mark’s Basilica just as the Italian Baroque began. In his setting of the Vespers, Monteverdi drew on centuries of sacred music tradition, but he broke the mould by bringing the theatricality and drama of opera into the church

Adelaide Festival Artistic Director Matthew Lutton OAM said: “Raphaël Pichon and Ensemble Pygmalion are leaders in their interpretation of early music. They celebrate you hearing Bach and Monteverdi with entirely new ears – it’s electric. Director Robert Wilson inspired generations with his genius, and I was deeply saddened to learn of his recent death. We have lost a visionary, and Mary Said What She Said was to be his Adelaide theatre debut. This production, created with the force of nature that is actor Isabelle Huppert, not only reveals new layers of Mary Queen of Scots, but the power of Wilson’s unique theatrical vision.”

Minister for Arts Andrea Michaels MP said: “We are proud to have recently contributed an additional $650,000 from the Malinauskas Government’s Arts Investment Fund, as previously announced, to support Adelaide Festival in 2026. This ensures that stories can continue to be told artistically and that audiences can experience the world’s best artists on South Australian stages, beginning with these two festival exclusives.”

Ensemble Pygmalion will perform at Adelaide Town Hall on 27 and 28 February (Bach: Good Night World) and 4 and 6 March (Orfeo by Luigi Rossi); and at St Peter’s Cathedral on 2 and 3 March (Monteverdi’s Vespers), 2026.

Mary Said What She Said is a production of Théâtre de la Ville-Paris, and will be performed at the Festival Theatre from 6 – 8 March, 2026.

Adelaide Festival will launch its full program on 27 October and will run from 27 February – 15 March, 2026.