Belfast International Arts Festival returns this month for its 61st edition, with a 26-day extravaganza of talks, readings, exhibitions and performances from home and abroad.
Running from October 12 to November 5, the festival will welcome a host of well-known names, audience favourites and new talent to some of Belfast's finest venues.
It’s a beautiful melding of local and international talent, with Northern Irish artists given the opportunity to perform on an equal footing with their counterparts from around the world.
Moreover, BIAF is a wonderful celebration of the city’s vibrant cultural scene and rich heritage, and a chance for people from all ages and backgrounds to come together to enjoy great art on their doorstep.
Highlights this year include folk star Cara Dillon, singing legend Marc Almond and the Moroccan acrobatics and dance troupe Groupe Acrobatique de Tanger - let’s have a closer look at what we have to look forward to…
Theatre
The festival will officially open at the Lyric Theatre with Burnt Out, the new play by the multi-award-winning Newtownabbey playwright Gary Mitchell (October 11 - November 4).
This will be part of a simultaneous opening as the festival’s collaboration with Cahoots NI on the company’s latest stage show, The Vanishing Elephant, opens at the New Victory Theatre on Broadway in New York.
Other theatrical highlights include the return of the formidable Pat Kinevane and Fishamble Theatre Company with the critically acclaimed King (October 27-28); the hugely entertaining and provocative work.txt (October 24-25) from one of the UK’s brightest young playwrights, Nathan Ellis; and a new and innovative adaptation of Eugene Ionesco’s classic 1959 play Rhinoceros – entitled Rhino – from the Tinderbox Theatre Company (October 18-29).
Music and dance
The magnificent Grand Opera House will be the venue for a series of unmissable live concerts. An Evening with The Belfast Ensemble and Marc Almond (October 17), will be a very special two-part event that sees the ensemble joined by Canadian soprano Rebecca Caine in the first half to perform music from the award-winning Abomination: A DUP Opera, followed after the interval by Soft Cell star and international pop icon Marc Almond as he presents music from his acclaimed 2014 song cycle, Ten Plagues.
The following evening, October 18, Tyrone-born folk star Cara Dillon will return to Belfast to perform songs from her new album Coming Home, accompanied by original music written by Sam Lakeman.
On October 21, the third and final headline event at the Grand Opera House will see a performance from Groupe Acrobatique de Tanger, an acrobatics and dance troupe from Morocco. Their show FIQ! is bring an otherworldly collection of acrobatic feats, figures, music, sketches and choreography exploding in a colourful visual world created by Hassan Hajjaj.
At The MAC on October 14, music fans will enjoy Country Roads, an evening of new country music from critically acclaimed Ontario-based duo Aaron and Aimee Allen and the multi award winning Gary Quinn. The following evening, October 15, West End star Henry Goodman will be accompanied by pianist Lucy Parham in Elégie: Rachmaninoff, A Heart in Exile, which chronicles the life of composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff on the 150th anniversary of his birth.
Other musical highlights this year include performances from The Waterboys, Teenage Fanclub, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Declan O’Rourke and Seth Lakeman.
Words and ideas
As ever, this year’s edition of the festival is a feast of ideas. On Saturday, October 14, music agent and promoter Paul Charles will host a workshop and discuss his new book, Adventures in Wonderland, in celebration of Belfast’s designation as a UNESCO City of Music.
On October 19, the festival’s keynote address on leadership will be delivered by this year’s featured artist, Nicholas McCarthy. Born without a right hand in 1989, McCarthy made history in 2012 when he became the only one-handed pianist ever to graduate from London’s Royal College of Music.
Since then, he has performed extensively in the UK and internationally, including for the 2015 edition of Belfast International Arts Festival. The talk is one of four special events Nicholas is involved in with this year’s programme.
Meanwhile, the festival is looking forward to hosting talks by a fascinating and diverse range of writers. Discussing their latest work will be Gary Younge (October 17), Jacqueline Crooks and Santanu Bhattacharya (October 31), Keina Yoshida (November 1), Claire Kilroy and Mike McCormack (November 2), Rachel Connolly and Nicole Flattery (November 3), Megan Nolan and Paul Murray (November 4) and many others.
Festival Chief Executive and Artistic Director Richard Wakely said: “Belfast International Arts Festival has always been fertile ground to platform and showcase the very best artistic talent from home and abroad – and this year’s festival continues that tradition, offering an autumn programme that is truly international.”
For the full programme and to book tickets, visit belfastinternationalartsfestival.com
