Belfast braced for annual arts extravaganza

As the North’s biggest arts festival kicks off tomorrow, the outgoing director leaves centre stage to his successor, who will be in place for next year’s 50th event

IT’S A TALE of two directors and a festival. Graeme Farrow, former director of the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen’s, which kicks off this week, put in place the nuts and bolts for 2011 before departing in the summer to take charge of programming Derry/Londonderry UK City of Culture 2013. Within the past week, Mark Prescott has been appointed to replace him, just in time to prevent the 49th festival from being rudderless.

“Mark officially took up his post of director on Monday,” said a spokesperson for the festival. “However, given the timing of his arrival, he will be overseeing the programme and using this as an opportunity to observe audience reactions and get to know the general lie of the land.” Prescott, who was born in Spain and brought up in Scotland, is the former head of cultural campaigns at the Mayor’s Office in London and, most recently, director of a London agency providing artistic, creative and strategic advice across the cultural and commercial sectors.

“This really is an exciting time to be taking over as director of the Festival,” he says. “I’m aware of its rich and diverse history and of its reputation for showcasing the very best home-grown and international arts talent to the people of Belfast and beyond. I’m equally conscious of the import- ant role the arts play in Northern Ireland and I hope to add, in some small way, to their cultural and social significance.” In his time as director, Farrow secured ongoing sponsorship from Ulster Bank as well as the continuing support of Queen’s University and other funding partners. And, with events such as the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival and the West Belfast Féile steadily raising their profile, he enhanced this festival’s long-running reputation for exclusive, international work.

Speaking at the launch, he listed Lithuania, Quebec, Sweden, Germany, Norway, Cuba, France, Spain, New Zealand, Poland, Denmark, Mali, the US, India, Bulgaria, Portugal, South Africa to illustrate this year’s geographical scope.

“Belfast is ready to take advantage of the fact that it is one of Europe’s most exciting cultural cities and destinations,” he said.

The opening concert has, in the past and with varying success, paired the Ulster Orchestra with performers such as Marianne Faithfull, Paul Brady and The Chieftains. This year is a rather more traditional affair as the orchestra’s new principal conductor, American JoAnn Falletta, heads up her first major concert for the orchestra, in a programme of North and South American music, with piano soloist Joanne McGregor.

Two huge figures in the dance world make brief appearances. In a real coup for the festival, Carlos Acosta, arguably the planet's favourite dancer, visits Ireland for the first time and performs a deeply personal piece of work entitled Premieres Plus.Meanwhile, Wayne McGregor, who has bridged the divide between the contemporary and classical like nobody before him, unveils FAR, a mixed-media performance piece.

Local companies have come up with an interesting mix of new work. Guidelines for a Long and Happy Life, a post-apocalyptic piece written by Paul Kennedy, will be directed by Tinderbox's artistic director Michael Duke and staged in a disused warehouse on the edge of the city. London-based Mick Gordon, who has regularly directed for the National Theatre and Gate Theatre (London), has come home to take charge of Both Sides of the Story, Ransom's double bill of plays by David Ireland and Robert Anthony Welch. Maiden Voyage has commissioned two dance pieces to be performed in the Ulster Museum's atrium, and Dance United NI's Merge will occupy a vast space in Titanic Quarter with a high-octane fusion of street and contemporary dance, BMX biking, skateboarding, rap and opera.

The Lyric Theatre is the venue for two landmark productions. Cape Town's Handspring Puppet Company brings danger, magic and dark poetry to its new version of Woyzeck on the Highveld, transposing Georg Buchner's unfinished masterpiece to the South African veld. Oskaras Korsunovas and Vilnius City Theatre's Hamletwill be performed against a long mirror across the main stage, echoing the Danish prince's instructions to be honest to oneself.

Circus and urban arts collide in Cirque Eloize's new creation iD, farce meets football in Ridiculusmus's Total Football,Norwegian virtuoso saxophonist Jan Garbarek performs with the Hilliard Ensemble in St Thomas's Church and the superb acoustics of the Ulster Hall will capture the thrilling choral folk songs of the female vocal ensemble Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares from Sofia.

Highlights

Tinariwen The mysterious, swirling sounds and rhythms of the Sahara played by a group of nomadic Tuareg, some of whom spent the 1980s in Libyan military camps, dreaming of self-determination for their people, and who are now seeing those dreams come true.

Michael Moore The Oscar-winning rabble-rouser's one night stand, Here Comes Trouble, sold out within days, endorsing the Belfast public's famous love of mud-slinging, bad-mouthing and stirring of the pot.

West Side Story The construction team of HBO's Game of Throneshave built a massive set in May Street Presbyterian Church, so expect this exuberant new production from the young performers of MT4Uth to look spectacular.

The Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen’s runs from October 14 to 30. See www.belfastfestival.com