Salisbury International Arts Festival announces highlights for 2007
Salisbury International Arts Festival announced some of the highlights for the 2007 Festival, which will take place from 25 May until 10 June, wowing the assembled crowd attending a special Festival reception on 4 December.
Jo Metcalf, Festival Director said; “The 2007 Salisbury International Arts Festival will be bursting with energy, flamboyant dance events, vibrant physical theatre and watery wonders.
Our Latin cultural focus means you can expect world class contemporary and traditional arts events from countries including Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela.
We will be celebrating human physicality and the way the body responds and moves through dance, sport and theatre. Plus the whole community will get the chance to take part and learn to dance in the great Salisbury Salsa!
And expect to get a little bit wet with the Festival overflowing with celebrations of our rivers, rain and the extraordinary natural resource of water!”
The Festival is always eagerly anticipated and the highlights launch is a great way of whetting the appetite of our supporters, offering a flavour of things to come. The advanced ticket sales are welcomed by our huge Festival fan base who know that it may be a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the world class artists the Festival brings to Salisbury.
The shows announced were:
26000 couverts - First French Championship of ‘No Matter What’
29, 30 May
2007
Family/Physical Theatre/Comedy
The First French Championship of ‘No Matter What’ is a fantastic family show, quite unlike anything you’ve seen before. This hilarious French company challenge traditional aesthetic and geographical boundaries in their absurdist take on sports.
Performed in Five Rivers Leisure Centre, audiences take to the bleachers to watch the unusual downhill kayak descent on office furniture; have to decide who wins in the hysterical Heap on Umpire; and try to get to grips with the obscure points system.
Philharmonia Orchestra
Conductor – Vladimir Ashkenazy
Soloist – Dejan Lazić
Repertoire – Glazunov Nocturne and Tarantella from the Chopiniana Suite, Beethoven’s piano concerto no. 4, Dvorak’s Symphony no. 8
30 May 2007
Cathedral Concert
Salisbury Cathedral will once again provide an unrivalled setting for another outstanding performance from an international orchestra. On 30 May, Vladimir Ashkenazy conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra as they perform Glazunov Nocturne and Tarantella from the Chopiniana Suite; Beethoven’s piano concerto no. 4 and Dvorak’s Symphony no. 8.
Glazunov was a great admirer of Chopin's piano works, and this evening's concert offers the chance to hear two movements from his Chopiniana Suite, a rarely heard and brilliantly scored orchestration of a set of solo piano pieces by Chopin, infused with Glazunov’s own distinctly folk-inspired Russian character.
Czech composer Dvorak also draws his inspiration from the folk music of his homeland in his lively and light-hearted Eighth Symphony, which completes the programme.
Plus Croatian born soloist Dejan Lazić – internationally hailed as a brilliant pianist and gifted musician – will delight the audience with Beethoven’s ever-popular piano concerto no. 4.
Motionhouse Dance Theatre - Driven
30, 31 May 2007
Dance
Motionhouse explodes on stage in a head-on collision with reality. Five performers race in the fast lane, dodging the flying debris, as their lives literally fall apart around them.
Motionhouse Dance Theatre, voted UK’s favourite dance company at the National Dance Awards 2005, left audiences breathless and asking for more when they last visited Salisbury.
If you’ve never been to a contemporary dance show before, take it from us, it doesn’t get much better than this! Driven is a brilliant heart-in-your-mouth dance theatre production which fuses live action and film, seamlessly integrating highly physical dance with breathtaking flying.
Armonico Consort - Purcell’s King Arthur
4 June2007
World Class Opera
After delighting audiences at the Salisbury International Arts Festival with their performance of Purcell’s Fairy Queen in 2005, festival programmers are thrilled to welcome Armonico Consort back in 2007, when they will perform Purcell’s semi-opera King Arthur, which includes such musical gems as Fairest Isle and some of Purcell’s most lyrical music.
Armonico Consort has a thriving reputation for the quality of its interpretation of Baroque and Renaissance music, as well as for nurturing young professional singers: Thomas Guthrie and Elin Manahan-Thomas are included in this cast.
Ex Cathedra – Latin American Vespers
7 June 2007
Choral Music
Singers, harps, lutes, violins, cornetts and sackbuts revel in colourful music from the jungles and cathedrals of 17th and 18th century Bolivia, Mexico and Peru. Moon, sun and all things reveals hidden treasures from 17th century Latin America, with works by Capillas, Fernandes, Franco, Araujo, Zipoli, Sumaya and Hernández sung in Spanish, Latin and the languages of the Aztecs and the Incas.
Ex Cathedra is one of the UK 's finest choirs and the flagship Early Music ensemble for Birmingham and the West Midlands.
Also announced during the evening was the LivingRiver project – The Festival will be working in partnership with Natural England to create three community projects which aim to engage people with the Avon River catchment and highlight the environmental issues it is facing.
With our focus on Latin culture and movement we are inviting everyone to join us for The Salisbury Salsa! The whole community will be offered the opportunity to take part in Latin dance classes and will get the chance to show off their skills during the Festival.
And the news that four independent book shops in Salisbury have joined forces to support the much loved literature programme “REad”, which is part of the Salisbury International Arts Festival was warmly received.
Cross Keys Bookshop, Ellwood Books, Sarum College Bookshop and Water Lane Bookshop have pooled their resources to help us to continue with our literature programme, which was under threat following the loss of Ottakar’s sponsorship.
The Salisbury Independent Book Shops will be selling the Festival reading list at Festival events, in their own shops and from a book shop in the Festival office. Jo Metcalf, Festival Director said, “We are thrilled with the support from the independent book shops which is making the 2007 REad programme possible. This unique partnership combines our shared values in the importance of reading and we’re glad that these four local businesses will benefit from their association with the festival as much as the people of Salisbury and the region will benefit from their generous contribution to REad.”
Ends
For more information contact:
Jane Thomas, Communications and Development Manager
jane@salisburyfestival.co.uk
01722 330914
www.salisburyfestival.co.uk
Tickets on sale from Salisbury Playhouse Box Office on 01722 320333
Note to Editors:
Salisbury International Arts Festival is supported by Friends Provident, Salisbury District Council and Arts Council England – South West. The full Festival programme will be announced 1 March 2007.
The participating books shops are:
Marc Harrison Caroline Wale
Ellwood Books Cross Keys Bookshop
38 Winchester Street 2 Cross Keys Chequer
SalisburySP1 1HG Salisbury SP1 1EL
Peter Shouler Mark Clifford
Water Lane Bookshop Sarum College Bookshop
24 Water Lane 19 The Close
SalisburySP2 7TE Salisbury SP1 2EE
Further forthcoming events include:
REal Film: YES
SalisburyArts Centre, Thurs 07 December @ 8pm
YES is the story of a passionate love affair between an Irish-American scientist (Joan Allen) and a Middle-Eastern chef (Simon Abkarian) in which they confront some of the greatest conflicts of our generation - religious, cultural, political and sexual.
Lantern Parade
21 December 07
Line the streets and see hundreds of magical lanterns parade through Salisbury, created by groups under the direction of community artist Alex Grant.