Salisbury International Arts Festival

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[Salisbury International Arts Festival] http://www.salisburyfestival.co.uk/home.aspx is one of the biggest multi-arts Festivals around and each year presents a top class programme of Music, Dance, Theatre, Opera, Literature and Films bringing the city to life over 17 days.

The Festival began in 1973 and was put firmly on the Arts map between 1993 and 2000 when Helen Marriage joined the team as Festival Director. The Festival was transformed from a small local affair into what The Times called "an astonishing success", developing the programme and increasing the turnover by almost 700%.[1] Since then, the Festival has developed and grown and now delivers a diverse programme of over 100 concerts, gigs, exhibitions and plays including world premieres, Festival commissions and special one-off exclusives.

The Director of the Fesitval holds the position for four-year and this year has seen a new Director take the stand. For her first festival, new Director Maria Bota, has chosen a series of themes – ‘India’,‘spirit’ and ‘water’, – which were woven throughout the programme of world class contemporary and traditional arts events. This year has also seen an expanded programme of outdoor events with activities scattered throughout the city, enabling audiences to trip over the festival in unexpected and unanticipated ways.

Maria comments: ‘I am thrilled to present my first festival in Salisbury. Our surrounding area is steeped in history and tradition, places of devotion, ritual and celebration, from the ancient circles of Stonehenge and Old Sarum to the spire of Salisbury Cathedral. These locations offer incredible settings for artists to respond to and be inspired by.’


Contents

[edit] 2009: India, Spirit, Water

Kuljit Bhamra, Artist in Residence East meets West in an inspiring programme of events from the Festival’s featured artist - composer, producer and virtuoso tabla player Kuljit Bhamra. During the Festival, Kuljit will collaborate with a range of artists, from one of Britain’s finest jazz musicians, Andy Sheppard to early music ensemble, the Orlando Consort. He will also accompany a silent film and will present a unique sunset performance at the ancient site of Stonehenge featuring the dancers of Srishti, Y Yadavan’s Indian vocals, percussionist Sandeep Raval, shaman Judith Seelig and the drummers of Taala. Celebrated as one of the founders of Bhangra music, Kuljit has also written film scores for countless movies, including Bend it like Beckham, and will talk about this part of his work.

Outdoor Events

Festival-goers will be able to enjoy a host of outdoor events including: the free opening event of internationally-acclaimed French aerialists Transe Express who will take to the air, in the Market Square, in an amazing human mobile of drumming majors; Long Division, a sound installation created by IOU in the Cathedral’s beautiful cloisters which is timed to the chimes of the Cathedral clock; and choirs from across the region come together to Sing for Water, in support of a WaterAid project in India, at a special performance in Salisbury’s Cathedral Close. The market square also plays host to free street theatre at lunchtimes on market days during the Festival.

World Premiere

Wilton’s beautiful Italianate church is the venue for the world premiere of Seven Elements - the final piece in Vikram Seth and Alec Roth’s critically acclaimed Festival commission, Confluences. Performed by tenor James Gilchrist and violinist Philippe Honoré, Seven Elements weaves the themes of the last three pieces - China, Europe and India - together into two new works.

Architects of Air

With this year’s focus on using the city’s open spaces, Salisbury’s Cathedral Close will be transformed during the Festival by the arrival of Amococo, a stunning maze-like installation designed by Architects of Air. Step inside and enter a beautiful sequence of caverns, while vivid reflections of liquid colour spill across the curved walls creating a world apart from the normal and everyday.

Bollywood

The Festival presents its strongest film programme to date, with a mixture of classic films and new releases inspired by the themes of ‘India’, ‘spirit and ’water’. Highlights include: Devdas, an Indian story based on Romeo & Juliet, which is the most expensive Bollywood film ever made; two UK premieres – Amal and Women of Tibet: The Great Mother; this year’s box office hit Slumdog Millionaire; and A Throw of Dice, a classic of silent Indian cinema which has been newly restored by the BFI and features a new orchestral score by producer and composer Nitin Sawhney. Another highlight is the screening of Entr’acte, the early surrealist masterpiece from French film director René Clair, with live tabla accompaniment from the Festival’s featured artist Kuljit Bhamra. Festival-goers will also have the opportunity to meet several directors and actors for Q&As at the screenings.

Music & Dance from Around the World

With ‘spirit’ as a festival theme, devotional music and dance is at the heart of this year’s festival. Acclaimed Egyptian musicians El Tanbura perform an enchanting mix of devotional Sufi songs and Egyptian folk music, accompanied by a whirling dervish. Other highlights include: spending a day with monks from the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in South India, who will present a programme of dance, music and food, culminating in an evening concert; and a unique opportunity to see the twelve-member dance company Abhinava from Bangalore.

Classical

The Festival features an impressive line-up of concerts this year with many performed in the magnificent Salisbury Cathedral. Highlights include: the world-renowned Tallis Scholars who will present a tailor-made programme featuring different settings of two classic devotional texts, the Miserere and the Magnificat; The London Mozart Players who accompanied by the Salisbury Festival Chorus, Welsh soprano Elin Manahan Thomas and tenor Robert Murray will perform a Festival production of Mozart’s Requiem alongside Bruckner’s soul-filled Motets and Bach’s last, and intriguing, incomplete fugue; and The Salisbury Symphony Orchestra, massed choruses and local children’s choirs will perform Salisbury Vespers by Bob Chilcott.

Jazz

Clare Teal, one of Britain’s most exciting entertainers, tops the bill in the festival’s jazz programme which also features New Orleans jazz band Django à la Créole and saxophonist John Surman in collaboration with Howard Moody with music from their new album, Rain on the Window.

Theatre & Comedy

Theatre and Comedy are high on the agenda again this year with an exciting range of productions and stand-up including: The Comedy of Errors performed by Shakespeare’s Globe in the beautiful grounds of Trafalgar Park; the award-winning play Stones in his Pockets; Rainer Hersch in All Classical Music Explained!; Arthur Smith with his show My Name is Daphne Fairfax; and This is Modern, a hilarious comedy dance show which tells the history of twentieth century dance.

Literature

The literature programme is back with an exciting array of authors and speakers including: Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Tony Benn, Melvyn Bragg, Graham Farmelo, AC Grayling, Sophie Grigson, Stanley Johnson, Trea Martyn, Diana Quick, Graham Swift and Alexander Waugh.


[edit] RESONATE: 2005 - 2008

Exploring humankind’s unity through our diversity & universal human responses to art. The Resonate series of festival themes provides keynotes for artists and audiences to focus and contextualise thoughts and experiences in environmental, artistic and cultural terms:

The artistic vision is founded on the premise that art is a universal language and humanity's responses to it, can help to create a more unified, more tolerant and understanding global community. The multi-artform focus is designed to give visibility of the contemporary culture and current artistic practice of an extraordinarily diverse culture.

[edit] 2005 Festival

This was Jo Metcalf's first Festival. Memorable events from this year include the making of a Sand Mandala in the Cathedral Close and a performance by Tibetan Monks at Stonehenge. There was also a strong Literature programme this year.

[edit] 2006 Festival

The 2006 Festival programme reflected the theme of Relate: how people connect with one another locally and as a global community. There was a strong artistic emphasis on storytelling so another strong Literature programme. There were also recurring motifs relating to the environmental focus, atomosphere, which conjures up images of wings, clouds, birds, fairytales, myths, dreams... the intangible and the unbelievable. These themes were exemplified in the Aboriginal Cultural Showcase, which featured a wide-range of indigenous Australian artists, many of whom are visiting the UK for the first time.

[edit] 2007 Festival

This Festival focused on Latin America, Movement and Water. There were many acts from many different countries in Central and South America including Mexico, Guatemala, Paraguay, Chile and Venezuela. Also, in this year, the Festival formed a partnership with the Living River Project to bring watery events to Salisbury.

[edit] 2008 Festival

The 2008 Festival took place between May 23 and June 8, 2008.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Helen Marriage". Artichoke. http://www.artichoke.uk.com/helen.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-08. 

[edit] External links

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