lichfield composer at artsfest

a world premiere from a Lichfield-born-and-bred composer takes place at Birmingham's artsfest this weekend. Sound Unbroken by Richard Glover will be performed by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group on Sunday 14 September (more information about this performance here). For the last year, Richard has been BCMG's first Apprentice Composer-in-Residence, and Sound Unbroken represents both the result and the conclusion of his apprenticeship (about which more is written here).

artsfest, the UK's biggest free arts festival, has always held a rare place in my heart. The first CBSO performance I ever managed was artsfest 2001 (quickly followed by my second in Romania). Every year CBSO loyally performed for free, often in the rain, and the rest of my artsfest weekend would be taken up with helping at the CBSO stall or waiting for my friends to finish doing so, again often in the rain. I've seen free opera in a pub thanks to Birmingham Opera, heard Black Voices for the first time (subsequently booking them for the 2006 Festival), and seen some spectacular international street theatre. However, since 2004 I have rarely attended.

Predictably artsfest generates both supporters and detractors, at times coming down to whether it was better organised before or after Birmingham City Council took it over a few years back. Personally, I now tend to avoid artsfest like the plague, either by intentionally being out of town, or subconsciously making other plans. But this has meant that I have missed out on things in previous years that were one offs, for instance Blast from 2007 (review1, review2), and I really wish I hadn't.

So this year, in addition to catching Sound Unbroken, I will be keeping an eye out for the following:

• Light Night on Artsfest's opening night where building throughout the city are spectularly lit - more information here.
• Stan's Cafe's performance of Of All the People in All the World which is free only during Artsfest - more information here.