The City of London Festival is set to return this autumn for the first time since 2015, bringing some of the world’s hottest classical, jazz and choral musicians to the Square Mile.
The festival celebrates the unique architecture and environment of London’s most historic district through a series of innovative musical events.
The newly rebranded City Festival of Music, Invention & Knowledge will open on 10 October with a session by Julian Joseph, a world famous as a jazz pianist who will play alongside an amazing line up of musicians including the tabla player Alok Verma.
On October 16, Eklectric duo Elisa Tomellini (piano) and Alberto Casadei (cello) will perform in Milton Court, with a repertoire ranging from Daft Punk to Paganini.
“My first stint as Artistic Director of the City of London Festival happened 40 years ago,” remembers Ian Ritchie, Artistic Director of this new City Festival of Music, Invention & Knowledge. “I returned to direct the Festival again from 2005 to 2013, seeing it through to its 50th anniversary celebrations in 2012. Its sudden collapse three years later took many by surprise and left a hole in the City’s cultural life.
Julian Joseph, world famous as a jazz pianist who will play with musicians including tabla player Alok Verma at Mansion House for the City of London Festival
“The original purposes of CoLF were to celebrate the City’s beauty through music and other arts, to bring its historic churches, halls and other wonderful buildings to life through world-class music and to prove that there is more to the Square Mile than simply making money (making honey, for example – and our new City Festival of Music, Invention & Knowledge is doing exactly that).
“My personal memories of past highlights include listening to the great guitarist John Williams perform music ranging from Bach to Steve Goss, 50 years on from his recital given while still a student during the first City of London Festival in 1962. And hearing the passion and precision of Tenebrae choir and the LSO, united in a unique arrangement of Barber’s Adagio under the Dome of St Paul’s Cathedral was a treasured moment when music moved but time stood still. We need more of this.”
The Festival of Music, Invention & Knowledge is supported by the Lord Mayor, Michael Mainelli, as part of his mayoral theme Connect to Prosper; The City of London Corporation’s Destination City programme; and the Comune of Genoa. It is curated by Artistic Director Ian Ritchie, and produced by Tessa Marchington, who runs the charity Music in Offices. Tickets cost from £20 (£10 concessions for students and people aged under 22). To book go to the website here.