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<\/a><\/p>\nFrom 17th – 27th October over 70 different performances from all over the world will fill venues in all corners of the city as Ireland\u2019s largest contemporary international arts festival takes off for its 51st year.<\/p>\n
Launching the 2013 programme Festival Director Richard Wakely commented, \u201cThe Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen\u2019s is one of only a handful of European arts festivals that can deliver such diversity boasting an eclectic mix of world-class Dance, Theatre, Classical Music, Jazz, Roots based Music, Visual Arts, Talks and Film. It is exciting to welcome the international arts community to Belfast and to see these performers share the billing with our finest local talent. Together they will deliver seven Irish premieres and three UK and Ireland premieres in this year\u2019s line-up and with 95% of all our shows priced at \u00a316 and under it is there to be enjoyed by everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Opening this year\u2019s Festival on Thursday 17th October will be a first for the UK and Ireland as internationally acclaimed artist Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada \u2013 the Festival\u2019s first artists in residence – reveals his huge land art portrait Wish. The transformation of eleven acres of land in Belfast\u2019s Titanic Quarter into an anonymous portrait using cutting edge technology and revolutionary art practice will be a major talking point. Sharing the billing for opening day is world-renowned tenor Jos\u00e9 Carreras who will perform with leading Irish Soprano Celine Byrne at the Waterfront Hall.<\/p>\n
2013 will witness the launch of a dedicated Music Club at The Elmwood Hall.\u00a0 This Cabaret style venue will showcase a world of musical influences such as Jazz, Blues, Indie, Fado, Irish and more.\u00a0 Carminho, Portugal’s brightest new star will make her Irish debut as she opens the Music Club on 18th October and will be followed by names such as; New York\u2019s Hem, Scandinavian new-wave jazz double act Girls in Airports and Oddarrang, Copenhagen Indie rock band Efterklang, stunning vocalist Iarla O\u2019Lion\u00e1ird and Steve Cooney, one of the most sought after acts on the traditional Irish Music scene – Dervish with guests The Henry Girls, and finally, cult American blues artist Eric Bibb.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s theatre programme will deliver two Irish premieres that feature direct audience participation with Roger Bernat\u2019s theatrical experiment in political theatre Pending Vote and the thrilling Bullet Catch from Rob Drummond which will finish its world tour as part of the Festival – both of these staged at The Lyric Theatre. Also at The Lyric the critically acclaimed Gare St Lazare Players Ireland will bring Samuel Beckett\u2019s Waiting for Godot to Northern Ireland following performances at the Dublin Theatre Festival.\u00a0 Local theatre features strongly with a diverse range of performances including a historical tale from Kabosh Theatre Company in Belfast by Moonlight at St George\u2019s Church, tales from the Shankhill in Crimea Square and an international collaboration for Belfast theatre company Prime Cut in The Conquest of Happiness at T13 in the Titanic Quarter to name a few.<\/p>\n
Belfast Festival will spread its wings this year as the Classical programme ventures into new and unusual venues around the city. For the first time St Gerard\u2019s Church on the Antrim Road in North Belfast will open its doors to the arts with a performance by the one of the world\u2019s finest vocal groups Ars Nova\u00a0 Copenhagen whilst the Clonard Monastery will play host to La Serenissima\u2019s performance of Vivaldi\u2019s Four Seasons.\u00a0 The Waterfront Hall will not only play host to the Festival Opening Concert but will also feature a welcome return for Sir James Galway who will perform a Musical Journey from Rodrigo to Tchaikovsky with the Ulster Orchestra. Queen\u2019s University will provide the setting for The Royal String Quartet from Poland, Chinese American Flautist Sabrina Hu and Derry born Cahal Breslin and the highly acclaimed Brazilian group PianOrquestra. Festival favourites the Ulster Orchestra will bring Festival to a close at The Ulster Hall with The Swan Songs of Strauss \u2013 featuring the four last songs composed by Strauss before his death.<\/p>\n
For 2013 the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen\u2019s will feature a Weekend of Dance at The MAC with two UK and Ireland premieres. Mem\u00f2ries d\u2019una Pu\u00e7a from Catalonia\u2019s Sol Pic\u00f3 Cia De Danza is a striking contemporary dance work that reflects the economic and political struggles in Spain. Originating from Belgium is Victor an emotional and beautiful duet delivering an intimate portrait of a relationship.\u00a0 Bringing dance into public spaces will be a newly commissioned piece from local dance group Maiden Voyage and choreographer Fearghus \u00d3\u2019Conch\u00fair as they present their piece in the Ulster Museum and The MAC Upper Gallery.<\/p>\n
The family programme delivers for \u2018big ones\u2019 and \u2018little ones\u2019 with an installation in Botanic Gardens offering to transport the younger children away from technology and into an imaginary world of sound, light and movement with The Strange Travel of Seynor Tonet. Whilst a collaboration with East Belfast Arts Festival and the West Belfast F\u00e9ile an Phobail will promote international, award winning Tumble Circus in their new show Damn the Circus which will take place in both Belmont Park and Falls Park and is an event geared for the older family market.<\/p>\n
A series of thought provoking talks cover everything from best-selling author Simon Singh\u2019s investigation of the mathematical aspects of The Simpsons to award-winning Guardian columnist Gary Younge\u2019s interpretation of Martin Luther King. Plus, Mark Carruthers launches his new book of interviews – Alternative Ulsters, Jonathan Aitken discusses Margaret Thatcher, Bernard MacLaverty celebrates the publication of his new Collected Stories,\u00a0\u00a0 a poetry reading with the John Hewitt Society and Feargal\u00a0 Mac Ionnrachtaigh reflects on the role of the Irish language for Republican former prisoners –\u00a0 all presented in association with the Belfast Book Festival. Finally, Film Noir is celebrated at QFT in association with Cornerhouse as they present 12 classics including Double Indemnity, The Killers, The Last Seduction and The Big Sleep along with a focus on Swiss Film.<\/p>\n
Ellvena Graham, Head of Ulster Bank Northern Ireland said, \u201cThe Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen\u2019s is firmly embedded in the heart of cultural life in Northern Ireland and has established a reputation for delivering world class, international artists and performances to local audiences.\u00a0 But more than that, it\u2019s about celebrating diversity and improving access to the arts across all communities with new venues for this year\u2019s Festival in the North, South, East and West of the City. The Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen\u2019s is also an important contributor to the local economy, encouraging tourism and adding vitality to the City. We are proud to be part of the success and development of the Festival over the years and look forward to another unique and international Festival season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bob Collins, Chair of Arts Council of Northern Ireland, commented, \u201cThe Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen\u2019s adds a massive contribution to Northern Ireland\u2019s cultural life and international reputation.\u00a0 We are proud of our commitment to the festival over the last number of years because the investment of public money has enabled this defining festival to continue to aim higher than most, bringing the best and most sought-after arts, from home and abroad, within the reach of everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
The scale and diversity of this annual Festival programme would not be possible without the continuing and generous support of various public and private sponsors, including the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Ulster Bank, Belfast City Council, Northern Ireland Tourist Board, the EU and the British Council. Plus, the many venues, performers and partner organisations whose commitment and passion bring the arts to life for all to enjoy.<\/p>\n
The Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen\u2019s runs from 17th – 27th October at venues all over the city. To find out more and book tickets visit www.belfastfestival.com<\/a> or call\u00a0 box office on 02890 971197. \u29e3BelFest Ends Further information from: Cathy Law +44 (0)7876358842\/festivalpress@qub.ac.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From Brazil to Bosnia, Australia to Austria in total 24 countries will be landing in Belfast for the 2013 Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen\u2019s which was officially launched today (Thursday 5th September) at the George Best Belfast City Airport. From 17th – 27th October over 70 different performances from all over the world will … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6273"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6273"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6275,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6273\/revisions\/6275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}