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City of London Festival
Sustain!
City of London Festival
See City of London Festival website for locations and prices
June 19 12.30 The Art of Recycling procession | Hundreds of students progress in an ecologically inventive art quest
June 21 12.00 Leviathan | To launch Sustain!, 800 saxophonists wend their way through the City streets in separate snake-like processionsmarking the 800th anniversary of the first stone bridge in London.
June 22 19.30 Choir of King's College Cambridge and John Harle | In this concert, composers shed light upon the fragility of our natural and built environment and call upon mankind to take responsibility. Includes World premiere of John Harle's City Solstice, Peter Maxwell Davies' Solstice of Light and extract from Hayden's Creation
June 23 Out of the Wasteland | lecture by The Right Rev. Richard Chartres, Bishop of London
Programme outline
The Festival opens with a spectacular Procession though the City on Friday 19 June, when hundreds of London school students will parade the fruits of an ecologically inventive project – The Art of Recycling – which sees tons of the City’s recyclable waste turned into works of art.
At noon on midsummer’s day, Sunday 21 June, the Leviathan will be formed of 800 saxophonists into a musical “monster”, snaking its way from the City’s historic ‘gates’, through the streets and onto London Bridge.
The Leviathan is part of Sustain! – a three-day programme of events at the beginning of the Festival, curated by saxophonist and composer John Harle. Sustain! includes talks, workshops and debates with people at the vanguard of thought and action on new models of sustainable development in the spheres of business, art, and the environment.
Dr Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London will deliver a keynote speech entitled ‘Out of the Wasteland – hope for a greener world.’ Later in the Festival, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies will give a lecture exploring the role of the artist in protecting and promoting the environment.
An exciting day of music and family activities at Hampstead Heath, Sweden on Stage will celebrate the inauguration of the Swedish presidency of the EU with their ‘Green Mission’ as the key message, and culminate with a performance by the Benny Andersson Orkester.
Performances in St Paul’s and Southwark Cathedrals will include new musical works on the theme of sustainability by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and John Harle, and an appearance by Jan Garbarek, the great Norwegian saxophonist.
Two further specially commissioned pieces pick up this theme: ‘Seven words, seven icons, seven cities’ by Nigel Osborne will explore the six 60°N cities (and London) in an environmental context – texts from each country will be set for choir (Tenebrae) and string orchestra (Scottish Ensemble), and the work will be performed with visual projections designed by Cathie Boyd of Cryptic. ‘The Humble Petition of Bruar Water’, a poem by Robert Burns (whose 250th anniversary we celebrate) provides the inspiration for a new work by Alasdair Nicolson, as well as an education project exploring the idea of the artist as environmental activist - Burns’ poetic petition resulted in the Duke of Atholl improving the area surrounding Scotland’s Bruar Falls by planting 120,000 native trees.
The Festival’s Education Programme has developed several other exciting environmental arts projects in schools and community groups in the City and its neighbouring boroughs, including a project entitled ‘The Art of Recycling’. These will culminate in performances and exhibitions during the Festival.
Note This programme forms part of the wider City of London Festival: around 50 ticketed concerts and over 100 free events will take place in the City’s beautiful buildings and outdoor spaces from 19 June – 7 August. For more information see www.colf.org
