Surplus 'A Secure Base' Will they? Won't they? Play the Opera House, That Is. Kylie and Nick.

The Sydney Festival announced yesterday a surplus of more than $200,000 for its January arts feast, a figure in stark contrast to last year's $740,000 deficit.

The festival director, Leo Schofield, says he is heartened by the result, especially in light of its investment in free outdoor events, including Marc Newson's lighting of the Opera House, the Bacardi Festival de Cuba and the jazz and symphony concerts in the Domain.

The festival included sell-out attractions such as Company B Belvoir's Small Poppies, the mammoth collaborative staging of Elektra, the hit Irish play The Weir and Jirí Kylián's acclaimed Netherlands Dance Theatre.

Schofield said the surplus provided the festival with "a secure base on which to build next year's event", the bulk of which is under wraps and will mark the director's fourth and final Sydney festival.

"In 2001 we celebrate the centenary of Federation, and there will be a significant emphasis on Australian artists and their work," he said. "However, the Sydney Festival is an international event and audiences will once again have the chance to see overseas artists and companies of the highest calibre."

A number of works commissioned by the festival in conjunction with other Australian and international festivals will be part of next year's platform. It is highly likely that the 19-hour Chinese opera, The Peony Pavilion - part of this month's Perth International Arts Festival - will be presented if an appropriate venue for the "marketplace" production, featuring a carved wood pavilion and duck pond, can be located.

This year's Sydney Festival shared a number of events with Perth, including Netherlands Dance Theatre, Philip Glass and The Weir, but director Sean Doran's first Perth Festival, which ended on Sunday, has ended in the red. Its deficit is conservatively estimated at $1.5 million, but it could be more than $2 million, a result attributed to a lack of marketing expertise and poor financial control.

Meanwhile Schofield, who also directs the Olympic Arts Festival in August/September, is to announce the replacement for the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Friday. It was forced to cancel early this month, so instead of Brahms and Debussy, the Opera House Concert Hall is expected to rock with the likes of Kylie Minogue, Nick Cave, Neil Finn and overseas pop performers.

Schofield, and general manager, Craig Hassall, have decided not to secure another orchestra, given that the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Youth Orchestra feature heavily on the Olympic bill.

"We thought it would be good to open up the program to something poppy and attractive to young audiences," Hassall said yesterday. "Nothing's signed yet and it's too early to name names, but the concerts would unite overseas and Australian performers."

When the LA Philharmonia was forced to pull out, it left a significant gap at the Concert Hall on three key dates: September 18, 19 and 20.

Telephone sales for the Olympic Arts Festival open to the public on Monday, the first chance many overseas visitors to the Games will get to secure tickets to the multi-artform festival. (Sales via the Internet are still being negotiated by SOCOG and IBM, and are not likely to begin until April or May.)

As was the case for the sports events, the only credit card which will be accepted is Visa - "the official and preferred card of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games".

The artists appearing in Jazz 2000, at the Concert Hall on September 16, are yet to be announced, although George Shearing has just been confirmed.