BELFAST FESTIVAL CELEBRATES 40 YEARS

"Sounding the City" is the major theme this year.....

This major theme reverberates across the programme as a whole and focuses on sound in all its forms, and our rich musical heritage in particular.

The party gets into full swing with a must-see event on Friday 25th October, when French musical troupe Transe Express and Belfast’s Beat Initiative lead an Opening Procession in the city centre with costumed drumming and a fantastic aerial musical spectacle.

The Opening Concert at the Waterfront Hall will feature the world premiere of a brand new symphonic work from local composers Elaine Agnew, David Byers, Stephen Gardner and Brian Irvine. Sounding the City will draw on the sounds and moods of key Belfast locations - the Albert Clock, the Ship Yard at Harland and Wolff, St. George's Market and the Lagan Weir – and will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.

Elsewhere, composer Ian Wilson will be raising the Titanic in a new musical and visual installation at St. George’s Church, Deirdre Gribben will bring Bernard MacLaverty’s novel Grace Notes to life in a new music and theatre performance and you can hear a section of Longplayer – a 1000 year long musical composition – in the Albert Clock.