3llw

just over 24 hours now until the third lichfield literature weekend starts. The good news is that it looks highly likely that our outdoor events to mark the centenary of Wind in the Willows can still be outside. We seem to have generated a new, large family audience for this, which will be great for some projects we have in the pipeline. The less good news is that while some events have sold out, hard decisions might have to be made about others due to numbers. Lichfield's literary audiences once again defy my expectations. That said, many events are either sold out already or will reach capacity with the walk ups that normally arrive, but compared to Hay, Edinburgh, and Cheltenham, these numbers remain really tiny. The discussion between Steve Fuller and Denis Alexander is close to selling out (and it will be videoed for future internet release, which is a great step for us). It remains important for events like this to take place in Lichfield, even though our numbers are really small, and any kind of fiction struggles to generate an audience. Next year's autumn offering will take place 9-11 October 2009.

london debut for volodin

Alexei Volodin, the brilliant young pianist who performed at the 2007 and 2008 Lichfield Festivals, will finally have his London debut this saturday evening as part of the London Symphony Orchestra's Rachmaninoff Festival, which is part of their Emigre Series. Conducted by Valery Gergiev, Alexei will be performing Rachmaninoff's 3rd and 4th piano concerto on saturday and sunday respectively. Saturday night officially sold out several weeks ago (although there do seem to still be a handful remaining) and there are a few dotted around for the sunday evening. For Rachmaninoff anoraks (or should that be anoRachs), there is also a sunday afternoon concert. I predict that after hearing Alexei perform on the Saturday night, Sunday night will also sell out, despie the 4th being less popular than the 3rd.

The Lichfield Festival is taking a coach load of Lichfield Festival Association members down to support Alexei, as he's performed here for the last two years, and I'm hoping Alexei will have the opportunity to come front of house to say hi. I know he arrived into London last night, and that he's here and happy. For the record we still one or two available tickets if there are any LFA members out there who think they might like to go afterall.

As mentioned previously, Gergiev's own links to the Lichfield Festival go back to 1985, just before his London debut.

new flyer

a week ago the box office opened for the Tallis Scholars' performance in Lichfield in December, and sales are thrumming along nicely, even though the new flyer for the show has only just been signed off. The last time Lichfield Festival tried promoting a December event was 2003, which was a 'Carols by Candlelight' concert without any candles. This time, we are in a first time co-production with the Cathedral, and while everything is being administered and organised through the Festival, risks, and hopefully profits, will be shared.
In the lead up to this performance, there will be a Staffordshire-wide school competition to compose a new Christmas carol. The winner will have their piece performed by the Tallis Scholars at this concert. The competition judges will be me, the cathedral's Precentor Wealands Bell and Peter Philips, the Director of the Tallis Scholars.
The new flyer should land over coming weeks, so keep your eyes peeled and let me know if you find one...

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.

launch party of Gaynor Arnold

I was reminded on my way in to Lichfield that tomorrow evening is the launch party for Gaynor Arnold's Girl in a Blue Dress. It is free, starts at 7pm, takes place at Birmingham & Midland Institute, Margaret Street, Birmingham, and was no doubt timed to benefit from yesterday's Booker shortlist announcement, a shortlist that Gaynor disappointingly did not make (but then neither did Sir Salman Rushdie). Gaynor is one of two authors speaking at this year's Lichfield Literature Dinner on Friday 26 September.