Charley's Picks

The 2012 Bath International Music Festival 

The 2012 Bath International Music Festival has announced its programme for dates from May 30 to June 10, plus a few extras in the day or two before and after the given dates. This is an epochal and epoch-ending event. It marks the final year of Joanna MacGregor as Festival Director. It will have been her seventh year at the conclusion of this Festival, a tenure that has been marked by great style and innovation in a myriad of areas, all of it against the tide of economic decline and funding cuts. Not only a noble effort, but successful and remarkable for its energy and inspiration.

As well as maintaining the Festival's tradition of presenting new music, Ms MacGregor has made a huge effort to extend it to children and this year sees that laudable effort carried yet further with many events and workshops for kids.

There is the usual wide range of music offered, from the contemporary jazz of the Tord Gustavsen Ensemble and Andy Sheppard's Trio Libero to the buoyant contemporary staging of Mozart's Magic Flute and a musical celebration of writer Angela Carter led by Ms MacGregor herself. And so much more, including the folk of Julie Fowlis, young pianist Reinis Zarinš, Courtney Pine with new material, early music soprano Emma Kirkby, jazz pianist Zoe Rahman, and yet more and more.

Check out the Festival program and you will see that, though it is not immune to the current economic situation, it is still bristling with energy, providing us with a panorama of musical delights that knows no bounds. And, if you have kids, don't forget them, because Joanna hasn't.

To view the Festival Events in Listomania Bath, go to the left column and select FESTIVAL under What's On, scroll down and you will see the Bath International Music Festival events arranged by date.

The 2012 Bath Fringe encompasses over 150 events (depending on how you count them) over 17 days in a city that is itself one of the great cultural landmarks of Britain. Artists and performers from the city, from the region, and from considerably further away use the city as a backdrop to show off what they do: their variety is such that the phrase “something for everyone” is reality rather than aspiration. The idea is to get audiences to try something they’ve not experienced before: many shows are free and most are bargain-priced, even in the flagship Spiegeltent which spreads Art-Deco magnificence on the Recreation Ground by the river for the last 10 days of the Festival.

Highlights for 2012 include an Arts Council supported programme of new work in street and outdoor theatre, as part of Bedlam Fair, the Fringe’s longstanding street arts weekend (May 25-27); the first tour in Britain for a stunning tango-and-fire show from French dance theatre company Bilbobasso (June 6); a Space Accident mystery with a cast of dozens of local people (‘Voyager’, June 4); bands from New York, Niger, Senegal, Spain, as well and Bath & Bristol. A string of visual art exhibitions take over empty shops and other unused buildings; new venues spring up in dusty pub rooms, and even the Saturday market in Green Park Station is not immune from artistic interventions.

Bath Fringe’s directors, Wendy Matthews and Steve Henwood, were named Best Festival Directors in the annual Fringe Report Awards this year: the festival is mainly staffed by volunteers and by events professionals working below their usual fees to put something back into the artistic community of the city.

The Fringe website has all the details, most of which have also found their way into the printed programme with cover artwork by Bath Spa University student Seb Ingham which should be all over the city and further afield by the time you read this. Tickets for many events are available online (see the website) or from the Bath Box Office in the city’s Tourist Information Centre.