Stay in Bath for Bath International Music Festival 2016

So today is the first day of Bath’s International Music Festival which will see the city filled with amazing music of all kinds from today, Friday 20^th May, to Sunday 29^th May. Ten days of concerts and recitals and dancing! We’ve really been looking forward to it. If you’re coming to stay in Bath for Bath International Music Festival, or you already live nearby, or have only just found out it’s happening and are now planning on coming to the city to be a part of it; these are some of our top recommendations for the days ahead.  

Jay Rayner, perhaps best known as the One Show’s food expert, will be largely leaving his critic’s hat at home and coming to Bath with his jazz hat on on this occasion. He’ll be performing at the Guildhall from 3:00pm – 5:15pm on Saturday 21^st, and in the first half he will also be telling a few stories of his restaurant exploits. 

On Sunday 22^nd from 7:30pm-8:45pm at the beautiful Assembly Rooms of Bath will be Canzoniere Grecanico Salentico. The Guardian described Canzoniere as “an exhilarating reworking of the tarantella, the hypnotic percussive dance said to cure the bite of the tarantula”, and the paper chose their last album as one of their top five albums of the year.

Not a performance but still very much a highlight event, on Wednesday 25^th  there’s a walking tour of the city called Lost Pleasures, which will, over the course of three hours (3pm-6pm), explore the lost pleasure gardens of Bath. It will also visit some of the lesser-known corners of Bath, which hold stories of they city’s more dubious past delights… 

Later on on Wednesday at the Bath Forum from 7:30pm until 9:00pm, will be An Evening of Opera, during which favourites from Carmen, Samson and Delilah, Turandot, Aida, and many others will be performed by Bath Philharmonia and three top-class opera singers. The tenor, Hector Sandovai, sings major roles in some of Europe’s best opera houses. 

A rising star is set to sing at Komedia on Thursday 26^th. Lera Lynn’s style is noir alternative country (the festival really does cover all styles of music) and is utterly compelling. Her original songs have already featured on the HBO series True Detective.

For folk fans, on Friday 27^th at the Old Theatre Royal at Bath Masonic Hall, Andy Cutting, who was named as Musician of the Year at the 2016 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, will be performing alongside fellow folk favourite Alasdair Roberts. Their mix of melodeon, guitar and Scottish influences is a treat not to be missed. 

There are many more performers on throughout the festival; usually at least five each day, but these were a few of the ones that caught our eye. We recommend browsing http://bathfestivals.org.uk/music/ for the full programme. And then, biased as we are, getting on the first train/plane to Bath to come and treat your ears and feed your soul.