AN extensive contemporary music programme is a feature of the 10th anniversary of Bakewell Arts Festival with more than 20 bands and performers appearing from now until August 17.
The 10th Anniversary BAF Concert takes place on Saturday in the grounds of Thornbridge Hall with Australian superstar Jon Stevens headlining.
The Live on the Lorry open-air gig in the centre of Bakewell on Sunday features a clutch of local bands including Dynamite Victim, Smiling Ivy, Corkstone, Kerry Fernandez Band and Left Hand Drive.
There is an afternoon of folk in the atmospheric setting of Riverside Gardens, a jazz concert and gourmet dinner with saxophonist Alan Barnes and the now traditional nightly shenanigans of the BAF Sessions/Unplugged in the Marquee at The Peacock.
The strong focus on theatre continues this year with Bakewell Youth Theatre presenting the musical Chess next week along with an outdoor production of A Midsummer Night's Dream by Verano Theatre Company, The Peacock Players presenting Cards, Cups and Crystal Ball, fringe theatre from Liars with something called Demises, Max Howard's In Search of the New and an evening in the company of West End star and local boy made good Tom Pearce.
Among spoken-word and literary events are iconic folk singer Shirley Collin's recollections of her travels through the US with musicologist Alan Lomax in America Over the Water, Poetry in the Garden with Poet Laureate of the Peak Ann Atkinson, and No Uncommon Sight – a lecture by Michael Howard on the role of landscape in art and literature.
Throughout the festival is an exhibition of Stations of the Cross, a series of large canvas paintings/drawing by Glossop artist Ghislaine Howard, recently named a Woman of the Year.
MORE:
Listings Guide
Arts GuideFilm GuideTheatre and EventsMusic Guide