Lichfield Festival set to begin this Friday

This year’s Lichfield Festival runs from July 5 to 13 and features a mix of music, theatre, comedy, author talks, family events and visual arts, offering something for everyone.

Highlights include A Celebration of Ivor Novello with TV star Russell Grant, Kathryn Tickell and The Darkening, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Black Voices’ tribute to Nina Simone, comedians Olga Koch and Andrew Maxwell and the BBC Young Musician 2018 winner, pianist Lauren Zhang.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, a Space Parade of giant puppet structures will wind its way through the city’s streets on Saturday accompanied by music from local performers.

The puppets have been created and brought to life by community groups and schools working with professional artists and the parade will be led by a bicycle-powered orrery made by puppet-makers Festive Road.

The parade follows the free Festival Market that will take over Cathedral Close in a day of activities with a wealth of stalls from local crafters and food producers and day-long free live entertainment.

Other events marking the moon landing include Moonwalk, a musical account of the Apollo 11 mission written by local composer Duncan Moon, and a 360-degree Cosmos Planetarium with shows about Apollo 11 and Destination Space Station.

A narrator and string quartet will create a musical theatre experience in Peter Rabbit’s Musical Adventures where young ones can get up close to the performers and experience classical music, while older children can enjoy Ballet Cymru’s adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.

New this year is the introduction of a daily wellness hour with topics as diverse as pilates, massage and well-being to a relaxed performance by world music group Kabantu and Singing for well-being with VOCES8.

Composition Two is a free exhibition of diverse artwork put together by the Sculpture and Art Foundation CIC. The artwork has been created by local, regionally and nationally known artists and is available to view and purchase.

On the closing day, the festival will team up with FUSE for Steampunk Ceilidh in the Momentum Marquee as a live band play dynamic adaptations of traditional and original dance tunes with their own caller.

For more information and to buy tickets, click here.