The Bloomsbury Festival 2007 – Blooming Marvelous

The Bloomsbury Festival is due to return from October 19 to 21with a host of events and activities from the area’s contemporary creative organisations. Following the success of last year, the 2007 festival will offer a superb programme packed with music, dance, theatre, film, photography, literature and debate.

The Bloomsbury Festival’s music stage line up has just been announced, and it features an exciting rag-bag of different sounds, with a linking theme of collaboration and experimentation.

The line up for Saturday 21st October is being headlined by the distinctive Norwegian singer-songwriter, Hanne Hukkelberg, and Foy Vance, who The Sunday Times recently deemed to be ‘in the premiere league of British song writing’. The stage will also feature what is being billed as ‘a series of unexpected collaborations’.

“Expect to see the contemporary classical finesse of the Elysian Quartet jostle with the twisted pop sensibilities of Alexis and Joe from Hot Chip, and the African Kora of Kadialy Kouyate blend with the celtic folk of Olivia Chaney and Matthew Ord,” said Bobby Williams, the Bloomsbury-based musician responsible for programming the stage. Soulful songstress Paloma Faith, and harpist Serafina Steer, complete the bill with their wildly different takes on the singer-songwriter template.

“I wanted the bill to somehow reflect the history of the Bloomsbury quarter as a hotbed of creativity,” continued Bobby. “There are so many festivals around now that I thought there was definitely room to do something a little less safe and predictable, with proper length sets for all acts and a more experimental approach in terms of artists and collaborators.”

The themes of collaboration and creativity will be continued in a special ‘after hours’ session at a very cosy, secret Bloomsbury location. All of the acts from the music stage, and a few special guests, have been invited to attend the completely acoustic (i.e. no PA, mics or amps) candle-lit session. “There will be unique collaborations, solo performances and improvisations, giving the artists a chance to perform in a unique, natural way, and a small audience the opportunity to hear real acoustic music in a hushed, magical environment – a real rarity. Considering the invited musicians include a harpist, a string quartet and a kora player as well as some fantastic singers and virtuoso guitarists, the audience can expect to be part of something truly remarkable,” Bobby commented.

On Sunday the stage will be given over to Bloomsbury-based musicians. The festival also features a host of other music events, including a set from Big Chill DJs in the Foundling Museum, a sing-along Messiah and the world premiere of Life Lessens, the new song cycle from Glyndebourne’s composer-in-residence Julian Phillips and librettist Simon Christmas.