Canada festival goes Down Under
A TROOP of didgeridoos playing a live chorus for commuters set the tone for this year’s much-anticipated Canada Festival. On June 28th, the atmospheric instruments will serenade workers arriving on each of the City’s five main bridges (Blackfriars, Millennium, London, Southwark and Tower Bridge) as they head to work.
This year, in case you hadn’t guessed, the event is celebrating all things Antipodean. An extravaganza of acts from Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific will be staged in and around the City’s most prestigious buildings and outdoor monuments.
Some of the most anticipated events are set to be held at the City’s spectacular Livery Halls (historic merchant trading venues). Australia’s foremost didgeridoo player William Barton takes up residence during the Festival, playing at the Apothecaries’ Hall with pianist Piers Lane (1 July) and Goldsmiths’ Hall with the Goldner String Quartet. Kiwi baritone Jonathan Lemalu performs with the New Zealand String Quartet at Merchant Taylors’ Hall (11 July). Other festival highlights include the world-premiere of Liminal’s four-meter high instrument Organ of Corti, an incredible transparent sonic crystal that takes sounds from the environment and recycles them. (The design is winner of PRS for Music Foundation’s New Music Award 2010. Its music is created by audiences stepping inside and moving. Carter Lane Gardens, 1 – 7 July.)
The Grammy Award-winning King’s Singers will also give the world première of Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin’s River’s Lament at the Lord Mayor’s residence, Mansion House (7 July). Then there’s the Dusk Chorus, a specially commissioned dance installation due to be staged on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral (12 July, 1.15pm and 7pm) set to ambient music from recordings of birdsong and wildlife in the Australian Outback.
Piano fans are in for a treat with a fifteen Piano Salute to Percy Grainger, Australia’s most quirky and famed composers, who died 50 years ago.
Keen City piano players will also be able to have a go at their own tunes – as with last year, the instruments will be distributed in outdoor areas throughout the Square Mile.
There’s also a series of free outdoor events, including Waka on the Thames which will feature an ornate Maori war canoe crewed by 16 Maoris in full traditional dress from New Zealand’s Toi Maori and London’s Ngati Ranana communities (1 July).
Add to that the first-ever London New Zealand Film Festival (1 – 3 July) with an outdoor screening of Whale Rider in Canada Park Square, and The Royal New Zealand Ballet at the Barbican (14 – 16 July), among others, and you have quite the party. Runs: 26 June to 16 July. See: 0845 120 7502 or www.colf.org