The annual Bath Festival, featuring books, music, comedy and more, will be getting under way tomorrow, Friday 17th May, with Party in the City.
Enjoying Party in the City in Parade Gardens | Photo © Nick Spratling
Bath’s biggest free night out, which opens the 10-day arts festival, will see 130 acts playing live music in city centre venues, from parks to churches and museums to pubs.
Tens of thousands of people are expected to pour into the city to bring business to pubs, restaurants and cafés as they roam between venues.
The guest curator of the festival’s literary programme this year is radio producer, podcast host and author Joe Haddow, who also runs the long-running BBC Radio 2 Book Club.
Scottish guitarist Sean Shibe, Grammy-nominated this year for his latest album, is Bath Festival’s artist-musician in residence. He has worked alongside long-term festival music programmer James Waters to bring a curated collection of different genres of music.
This year’s writers in residence are Cathy Rentzenbrink and Kit de Waal, who will be appearing at a series of events.
Literature highlights include BBC World Affairs correspondent, news presenter and Mastermind host Clive Myrie in conversation with Kit de Waal about his memoir Everything is Everything.
Known for his reputation for fearless, objective reporting on some of the biggest stories of our time, most recently from the front lines in Ukraine, Clive will be talking about his career, family history and how being Black has affected his perspective on the issues he’s encountered.
Journalist Rebecca Thomson, who broke the Post Office accounting scandal, will join a discussion panel, including Nick Wallis, author of the Great Post Office Scandal, and Post Office manager Nicholas Arch, to talk about this huge miscarriage of justice and update Bath Festival audiences on the latest developments.
Booker Prize-winning novelist Howard Jacobson comes to Bath to discuss his new novel, What Will Survive of Us, and will be in conversation with guest curator Joe Haddow.
The trailblazing poet and award-winning novelist Salena Godden will be celebrating the launch of her new collection, With Love, Grief and Fury.
Journalist, author and political commentator Daniel Finkelstein joins bestselling author and broadcaster Simon Mayo to discuss Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad, his moving account of his parents’ experiences during the Second World War.
Meanwhile, broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby will be in Bath on publication day of his book, Endgame 1944, about the end of the Second World War.
Comedians and long-term friends Sara Pascoe and Cariad Lloyd (co-hosts of the Weirdos Book Club podcast) celebrate the paperback publication of Sara’s debut novel Weirdo, while comedian Shaparak Khorsandi will bring a mix of stand-up and excerpts from her new book Scatter Brain, as she looks back on her life through the lens of ADHD and finally makes sense of the chaos.
World-leading art expert Will Gompertz will take his audience into the minds of artists, from contemporary stars to old masters.
Astronomer Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock will share her unique insights into the world of stars and there will be the chance to hear legendary environmentalist and Guardian columnist George Monbiot, while Dr Nighat Arif, resident doctor on BBC Breakfast and ITV’s This Morning, is on a mission to bring women’s health to the forefront.
Professor Bruce Hood, who runs the most popular course at Bristol University on the science of happiness, will be discussing seven simple life-changing lessons to help break negative thought patterns and find happiness.
Other big names appearing at the festival are Ruby Wax, Michael Ball and David Mitchell.
On the musical front, one of the world’s finest vocal ensembles, Stile Antico, will be presenting a programme of Renaissance music, including Allegri’s Miserere, at Bath Abbey.
Sean Shibe has curated four concerts for The Bath Festival and will be playing at two. He joins the renowned Carducci Quartet for two guitar quintets and will be joining mezzo-soprano Ema Nikolovska for a musical exploration of Virginia Woolf’s classic Orlando.
Young pianist Fabian Müller will put on an evening of Brahms’s Piano Sonata No3 in F Minor Op5 and Beethoven’s Appassionato Sonata.
Other highlights include BBC Radio 2 Young Folk award-winner Brighde Chaimbeul, small pipes musician, who will perform with Aidan O’Rourke of folk band Lau on fiddle for an evening of music and film evoking the landscape and people of Skye.
And to celebrate 90 years of one of Bath’s most popular venues, The Forum, there will be a birthday concert of blockbuster movie music with Bath Philharmonia and the musicians of the Royal Marines School of Music.
For full programme details, visit thebathfestival.org.uk.
