Manchester International Festival has unveiled its 2019 programme, which takes place across 18 extraordinary days (4-21 July 2019). Internationally-acclaimed artists from over 20 countries - many working in one-off creative collaborations - will present 20 UK and world premieres at the cross-art form biennial festival, the second with John McGrath as Artistic Director.
- Yoko Ono opens MIF19 with BELLS FOR PEACE, a mass-participatory artwork which invites thousands of people to ring and sing out for peace
- Legendary filmmaker David Lynch takes over HOME for the duration of the Festival with his largest UK exhibition of visual art to date, alongside film screenings, Lynch-inspired gigs and more
- Idris Elba and Kwame Kwei-Armah collaborate for the first time on Tree, a journey into the soul and spirit of contemporary South Africa which blends music, drama and dance
- The legacy of Nico, the legendary Velvet Underground singer and muse, is celebrated in The Nico Project, a theatrical immersion into her sound and identity from Maxine Peake and Sarah Frankcom
- Director Leo Warner, choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Rambert presentInvisible Cities, a visually stunning collaborationinspired by the renowned 1972 novel and adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti
- Grime star Skepta takes us beyond the music gig to present DYSTOPIA987, a futuristic take on the history of rave culture at a secret Manchester location
- Philip Glass and Phelim McDermott team up for their most personal collaboration yet: Tao of Glass, a meditation on life, death and wisdom
- The world premiere of a major two-part commission to mark the 200th anniversary of Peterloo, a landmark in Manchester’s history, including a new work by composer Emily Howard and poet Michael Symmons Roberts, performed by the BBC Philharmonic, the BBC Singers and three Hallé choirs
- Adam Thirlwell, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Rem Koolhaas construct an extraordinary language laboratory featuring new work by Patrick Chamoiseau, Sayaka Murata, Adania Shibli, Sjón, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Dubravka Ugrešić and Alejandro Zambra
- Janelle Monáe, Abida Parveen, Chrysta Bell and an all-female line-up of electronic artists curated by Mary Anne Hobbs lead MIF19’s music programme
My Festival, MIF’s creative engagement programme, will be central to this year’s Festival, as it was in 2017. With a year-round programme of activity, including Festival in My House, a series of micro international festivals curated by local people and hosted in their own homes, bursaries for up-and-coming Greater Manchester-based artists supported by Jerwood Arts, and Breathe, a programme blending dance and spoken word for local young people, My Festival is a full-time presence in the city. For the Festival itself, the programme includes a range of ways to participate in international commissions, a volunteer programme involving 500 people from the region, and opportunities to showcase talent in festival square.
Find out more at mif.co.uk
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