THE BATH FESTIVAL 2024: LINE-UP REVEALED

The Bath Festival, the city’s oldest and biggest arts festival, brings its annual celebration of books and music to the beautiful city this spring. The event is a sparkling mix of inspirational speakers, consummate story tellers and music to lift the spirits and soothe the soul.

The festival audiences have interests that encompass many subjects, from the deeply serious to the delightfully ephemeral. Guests will experience a smorgasbord of events, from a selection of music and the perennial appeal of ABBA to the joy of running, Britain’s disappearing footpaths and gripping Gothic novels.

Music festival highlights:

Party in the City, Bath’s biggest FREE night out, which opens the ten-day festival, will see 130 acts, including bands, choirs and solo performers playing live music in city centre venues, from parks to churches, from museums to pubs. This evening of free music promises to be the biggest yet, with 39 venues hosting live music events.

One of the world’s finest vocal ensembles, Stile Antico will be presenting a programme of Renaissance music, including Allegri’s Miserere, in the architectural splendour of Bath Abbey.

Exciting young pianist Fabian Müller will be putting on a spellbinding evening of Brahms’s Piano Sonata No3 in F Minor Op5 and Beethoven’s Appassionato sonata.

Music artist in residence, Grammy nominated guitarist Sean Shibe, has curated four concerts for The Bath Festival and will be playing at two. He will join the renowned Carducci Quartet for two guitar quintets and will be joining mezzo soprano Ema Nikolovska for a musical exploration of Virginia Woolf’s classic Orlando.

There’ll be a rare chance to enjoy a screening of the 1922 silent film, Nosferatu, accompanied by live organ improvisation by award-winning organist Sebastian Heindl. This will be introduced by Sir Christopher Frayling, author of Vampire Cinema: The First One Hundred Years.

BBC Radio2 Young Folk award winner Brighde Chaimbeul, small pipes musician, will perform with Aidan O’Rourke (member of folk band Lau) on fiddle for an evening of music and film evoking the landscape and people of Skye.

One of Bath’s most popular venues, The Forum, will celebrate its 90th birthday with a concert of blockbuster movie music with Bath Philharmonia and the musicians of The Royal Marines School of Music.

Other Festival highlights:

BBC World Affairs correspondent Clive Myrie will be in conversation with author Kit de Waal about his memoir Everything is Everything – a life story of love and hate, but also hope.

Powerhouse of British poetry and award-winning novelist Salena Godden will celebrate the launch of her audacious new collection, With Love, Grief and Fury.

Booker prize-winning novelist Howard Jacobson will discuss his new novel, What Will Survive Of Us – an unforgettable love story about romance in later life, shot through with his trademark wit and humour.

Much-loved comedian Shaparak Khorsandi will bring a delicious mix of stand-up and excerpts from her new book Scatter Brain, as she looks back on her life through the lens of ADHD and finally makes sense of the chaos.

Legendary environmentalist and Guardian columnist George Monbiot will take on the ideology that controls our lives – to help us find a better alternative worth fighting for.

Journalist Rebecca Thomson, who broke the Post Office accounting scandal, will join a discussion panel, including Nick Wallis, author of the Great Post Office Scandal, and Post Office manager Nicholas Arch, to talk about this huge miscarriage of justice, and to update Bath Festival audiences on the latest developments.

Comedians and long-term friends, Sara Pascoe and Cariad Lloyd (co-hosts of the Weirdos Book Club podcast), will celebrate the paperback publication of Sara’s hilarious, touching debut novel, Weirdo.

Dr Nighat Arif, resident doctor on BBC Breakfast and ITV’s This Morning, will provide an informative and empowering conversation about the key stages in every woman’s life.

Superstar space scientist and BBC The Sky at Night presenter Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock will share expertise and unique insights into the marvellous world of stars.

Tickets go on general sale on Friday 22 March. For full programme details visit: thebathfestival.org.uk