The full 2019 programme for Manchester’s International Festival has been revealed with plenty of exciting acts for you to enjoy. Taking place from 4th-21st July, the annual event has been getting bigger and better with each passing year.
Thousands of people take part in Manchester International Festival, either as volunteers, participants, running workshops or attendees, there is something for everyone at this event.
The following have been announced:
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono opens MIF19 with BELLS FOR PEACE, a mass-participatory artwork which invites thousands of people to ring and sing out for peace.
Idris Elba and Kwame Kwei-Armah collaborate for the first time on Tree, a journey into the soul and spirit of contemporary South Africa which blends music, drama and dance. The legacy of Nico, the legendary Velvet Underground singer and muse, is celebrated in The Nico Project, a theatrical immersion into her sound and identity from Maxine Peake and Sarah Frankcom. Grime star Skepta takes us beyond the music gig to present DYSTOPIA987, a futuristic take on the history of rave culture at a secret Manchester location.
David Lynch
Legendary filmmaker David Lynch takes over HOME for the duration of the Festival with his largest UK exhibition of visual art to date, alongside film screenings, Lynch-inspired gigs and more.
Director Leo Warner, choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Rambert present Invisible Cities, a visually stunning collaboration inspired by the renowned 1972 novel and adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti. Philip Glass and Phelim McDermott team up for their most personal collaboration yet: Tao of Glass, a meditation on life, death and wisdom.
The world premiere of a major two-part commission to mark the 200th anniversary of Peterloo, a landmark in Manchester’s history, including a new work by composer Emily Howardand poet Michael Symmons Roberts, performed by the BBC Philharmonic, the BBC Singers and three Hallé choirs. Adam Thirlwell, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Rem Koolhaas construct an extraordinary language laboratory featuring new work by Patrick Chamoiseau, Sayaka Murata, Adania Shibli, Sjón, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Dubravka Ugrešić and Alejandro Zambra. Janelle Monáe, Abida Parveen, Chrysta Bell and an all-female line-up of electronic artists curated by Mary Anne Hobbs lead MIF19’s music programme.
View the full line up here. See other events in Manchester here.
