Open House Festival has added to its summer programme in Bangor with a week-long Blues & Jazz event, the first to be held in the city.
Supported by Ards and North Down Borough Council and Beamish, The Bangor Blues & Jazz Week will host more than forty free events across Bangor during the August Bank Holiday weekend. And from Monday 18th August until Monday 25th, there will be an additional fifteen ticketed events in the Court House and Walled Garden under the Blues and Jazz banner.
“With the development work about to begin on Bangor seafront, it wasn’t possible to schedule our annual Seaside Revival Vintage Festival this year,” said Open House Festival director, Kieran Gilmore. “So we came up with the idea of a small Blues & Jazz event instead, a sort of festival within the main August festival. The idea snowballed however, and now it’s not so small. We’ve collaborated with ten city-centre bars to produce a Blues & Jazz Trail that will run from Central Avenue, down to King Street, up High Street, and along the seafront. And thanks to support from Ards and North Down Brough Council, and Beamish, it’s all free.”
Acts performing at the Bank Holiday Weekend Trail include the Lee Hedley Blues Band, the Linley Hamilton Trio, Double Standards, Frank Carberry, Belfast Groove Collective, and In Full Swing. And participating bars and venues include The Imperial, The King’s Quay, Rabbit Rooms, Wolseys, and The Nines.
Ticketed events featured in the Blues & Jazz Week include award-winning singer-songwriter Katharine Timoney who is making waves as one of Ireland’s leading jazz-soul crossover artists and has been tipped as ‘One To Watch’ by BBC Introducing. Katherine will perform at the Court House on Sunday 24th August. Also appearing at the Court House are the electrifying blues-rock trio The Zac Schulze Gang from England, and local keyboard maestro Scott Flanigan will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of piano virtuoso Keith Jarett’s Köln Concert live album recording, the best-selling solo jazz album of all time, with his own tribute on a baby grand piano. Renowned Irish blues artist Grainne Duffy will also be appearing at the venue during the Blues & Jazz week.
Mary Coughlan, Dana Masters, and Ronnie Greer, whose gigs have already been announced, will be representing the week-long Blues and Jazz theme at Bangor Castle Walled Garden.
Mayor of Ards and North Down, Councillor Gillian McCollum said: “Bangor buzzes in August every year thanks to the Open House Festival but with the addition of a Blues & Jazz week to the programme this summer we can look forward to getting an extra soulful dimension as well! This is music to my ears, as I am sure it will be for many. With around 50 events held in ten or more different venues across the city, many of which are free, there will be plenty of opportunities to enjoy this exciting new event.”
“Beamish is proud to be one of the sponsors of the Bangor Blues & Jazz Week,” said Andrew Hollywood, Marketing Manager for Beamish. “We’ve been working in collaboration with the Open House Festival team for many years now and see the Court House as the home of Beamish in North Down, so the Bangor Blues & Jazz event is a perfect fit for us. It promises to be a fantastic showcase for blues and jazz music, and will no doubt generate a wonderful atmosphere in the city, especially over the weekend trail.”
The addition of the Bangor Blues & Jazz week brings the total number of events in this year’s Open House Festival programme to 136, with the potential for more to come. Full details of the free Blues & Jazz Trail and tickets for the ticketed events are available via the Open House Festival Website: www.openhousefestival.com
Open House Festival is an arts charity supported by Ards & North Down Borough Council and Arts Council of Northern Ireland