Québec Culture –c’est fantastique

We spoke to Andrew Bailey, Cultural Attaché for the Québec Government Office London about the sensation Le vent du Nord

Could you start by introducing yourself, your work, and how you’re involved with the Festival?

I’m Cultural Attaché at the Québec Government Office in London. This year, we are delighted to support NNF in its programming of Québec musical sensation Le Vent du Nord.

Why are you excited about Le Vent Du Nord performing?

Le Vent du Nord always know how to bring the party. The band, which is a leading force in Québec’s progressive francophone (French-speaking) folk movement, never fails to delight crowds. Their glorious mix of fiddle and

LE VENT DU NOrD

Sunday 21 May, 8.30pm

Adnams Spiegeltent

Le Vent du Nord are one of the leading names in Québécois folk music. Combining fiddle, guitar, accordion, piano, bass, hurdy-gurdy and four-part harmonies. To move any crowd - from their feet to their hearts.

Tickets £16 U18/YoungNNF £7.50 CATEGOrY

Supported by

The Scotsman foot-tapping, guitar, accordion, piano, bass, hurdy-gurdy and wonderful four-part harmonies will put a smile on anyone’s face. Regardless of whether or not you understand French – I promise!

What should our audiences be most excited about?

The joy and energy that the group will bring to the stage. Everyone will be jigging along to the music before they know it! And getting to know a bit more about Québec’s culture and history, through the music and stories of the band.

How would you define Québécois culture? What makes it special?

Québec’s culture is deeply anchored in the francophone history of North America. The experiences and creations of the artists who live in Québec, Canada’s only majority-francophone province, emerge from a unique society and context. At the same time, it is very forward-looking, modern, innovative and plural.

Once our audiences have had a taste I’m sure they’ll want more – where can they find it?

Our Québec Culture magazine! And on our socials: search for Quebec Government Office in London.

Monday 22 May, 7.30pm

Adnams Spiegeltent

Watch some of the most exciting up and coming artists from Norfolk’s thriving music scene, as they take to the Spiegeltent stage! Band Night features some of the most promising local talent, in a night programmed by BBC Introducing Norfolk.

Tickets £7.50

MUSIC

ACTION HERO

OH EUrOPA

Monday 22—Friday 26 May

BBC Radio Norfolk

Since 2018, Action Hero have been traveling through Europe in their motorhome, recording strangers singing love songs. They’ll be recording yours at our Welcome Weekend (p8), Saturday 13 & Sunday 14 May and you can tune in to their takeover on BBC Radio Norfolk throughout the week. Free r ADIO

Our partnership with BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists Scheme continues, helping to support young musicians on the threshold of an international career to reach the next stage of their development. Enjoy some of the world’s most promising new talent.

Tuesday 23 May, 1pm

Octagon Chapel

New Zealand-born violinist Geneva Lewis’ performances speak from and to the heart. She has been lauded for “remarkable mastery of her instrument”.

Mozart violin Sonata in C Major, K303

Douglas Lilburn violin Sonata

Beethoven violin Sonata No. 10, Op. 96

Tickets £16, £14 U18/YoungNNF Free

MUSIC

Tuesday 23 May, 7pm

Octagon Chapel

Shortlisted for the 2022 Mercury prize and JazzFM instrumentalist of the year, pianist Fergus McCreadie is steadily creating a distinct musical identity. With David Bowden and Stephen Henderson he performs the album, Forest Floor - a captivating fusion of jazz and Scottish folk.

Tickets £16, £14 U18/YoungNNF Free

MUSIC

Born in Glasgow, Ryan Corbett is a classical accordionist who has been described as ‘one of Scotland’s most exciting young musicians’ (The Scotsman).

Tuesday 23 May, 1pm

Sheringham Little Theatre

Bach English Suite No. 3, BW v 808

Viacheslav Semionov Brahmsiana

Franck Angelis Étude on the Theme

“Chiquillin de Bachin” by Astor Piazzolla

Albin repnikov Capriccio

Isaac Albeniz Cordoba

Isaac Albeniz Asturias

Wednesday 24 May, 1pm

Octagon Chapel rameau Pièces de clavecin (selection)

Shostakovich Prelude and Fugue No. 24, Op. 87

Mikhail Bronner ‘Insomnia’, Four poems by Marina Tsvetaeva

Alexander Nagaev Sonata No. 1, Op. 13

Tickets £16, £14 U18/YoungNNF £7.50

MUSIC

LEONKOrO

Wednesday 24 May, 5pm

Octagon Chapel

Founded in Berlin in 2019, and recent winners of the Wigmore Hall String Quartet Competition, the Leonkoro Quartet has enormous stage presence, glows for the music, takes full risks and amazes with its empathy for the respective sound of the pieces’.

Haydn String Quartet in C Major Op. 33 No. 3 ‘The Bird’ ravel String Quartet

Tickets £16, £14 U18/YoungNNF Free MUSIC

Tuesday 23–Thursday 25 May Festival Gardens

Three days. Six shows. Experience some of the best spoken word and live literature in the UK in our very special secret pub hidden in Festival Gardens.

Grab a drink, settle in, and fill your hearts with touching stories about humanity, kindness, growing older, and perhaps even a rat.

The Inn Crowd have commissioned this programme of brilliant artists and we can’t wait to bring them to Norwich.

Tuesday 23 May, 7.30pm

Adnams Spiegeltent

The culmination of a three year project with Norfolk communities, singer Jessica Walker and composer Luke Styles are joined by the Chroma Ensemble for a night of contemporary responses to the protest songs of Weill, Eisler, Spoliansky, Hollaender and Brecht.

Tickets £16 U18/YoungNNF £7.50

MUSIC

Co-commissioned by Norfolk & Norwich Festival and Brighton Festival

Tuesday 23 May

4.30pm rOSA TOrr

R ATTUS R ATTUS: THE EPIC TAIL OF MAN vS R AT

6pm LUKE wrIGHT THE BALLAD SELLER

Wednesday 24 May

4.30pm BrENDA rEAD BrOwN BUT HAvEN’ T FINISHED YET

6pm BErNADETTE rUSSELL 366 DAYS OF KINDNESS

Thursday 25 May

4.30pm JESS MOrGAN

BORING SOMEONE IN SOME DARK C AFÉ

6pm JONNY FLUFFYPUNK

IF WE JUST KEEP GOING WE WILL GET THERE IN THE END

Tickets £10 U18/YoungNNF £7.50

30% off when you book three or more Festival Speak Easy events

SPOKEN wOr D

BrìGHDE CHAIMBEUL , rOSS AINSLIE & STEVEN BYrNES

Tuesday 23 May, 10pm

Adnams Spiegeltent

Small pipes player Brìghde Chaimbeul is the winner of the BBC Radio 2 Horizon Award and the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award. She is one of the leading experimental purveyors of celtic music. A native gaelic speaker from the Isle of Skye, her style is rooted in her native language and culture.

Tickets £16 U18/YoungNNF £7.50

MUSIC

Sponsored by

Time Out

Thursday 25 May, 10pm

Adnams Spiegeltent

South African afro-psychedelic future pop sextet Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness bring indigenous funk, hiphop consciousness and punk rock energy from Soweto to the Adnams Spiegeltent.

Tickets £16 U18/YoungNNF £7.50

MUSIC

Sponsored by

SH!T THEATrE

EvITA TOO

Friday 26 & Saturday 27 May, 7.30pm

Maddermarket Theatre

Multi award-winning, performance art duo Sh!t Theatre present their performance art musical about the first ever female president... whose name is... um...

The two-time Fringe First Award winners bring ‘anarchy with bags of humour – slyly sliced by more serious concerns’ (Independent), in the show about a woman Andrew and Tim wish they could’ve written.

Tickets £16 U18/YoungNNF £7.50

Ages 16+ Frequent nudity

THEATrE

Co-commissioned by Norwich Arts Centre

BBC Singers

wILLIAM BYrD rEIMAGINED: MUSIC FOr CHOIr AND SA xOPHONE

Friday 26 May, 7.30pm

Cathedral of St John the Baptist

The BBC Singers are joined by saxophonist and composer Christian Forshaw and conductor Owain Park to perform a rich and celebratory programme.

They will mark the 400th Anniversary of Byrd’s death with the composer’s sacred music; movements from The Great Service and Ave Verum Corpus, bracketed by pieces by Tallis, Hildegard von Bingen and Roderick Williams, in a concert that promises to offer a true choral feast.

Tickets £30, £26, £21, £15 U18/YoungNNF £7.50

MUSIC

With thanks to Directors’ Circle Supporter Lynn Biggs

DOwDELIN

Friday 26 May, 10pm

Adnams Spiegeltent

Based in Lyon with roots in Guadeloupe, Martinique and Armenia, the afro-jazz funk four-piece describe themselves as ‘Creole afro-futurists’, championing the present-day sounds of the Caribbean.

Tickets £16 U18/YoungNNF £7.50

MUSIC

FrOzEN LIGHT FIRE SONGS

Saturday 27 & Sunday 28 May, 11am & 1.30pm

The Garage

Frozen Light create an immersive sensory sound experience with the Thetford Singers for audiences with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD), Frozen Light will also be hosting a Sensory Symposium exploring the future of sensory theatre. Find out more on p37.

Tickets £10 Essential carers or companions free.

MUSIC PE rFOrMANCE

Co-commissioned by The Garage and Norfolk & Norwich Festival

JOIN THE DIN

Saturday 27 May, 10pm

Adnams Spigeltent

International ensemble who embody the vibrant and exploratory nature of the contemporary UK Jazz scene. Consisting of explosive double drums and duelling saxophones, Join The Din combine influences from Jazz, Afrobeat, Psychedelia, Progressive Rock, EDM and Rave.

Tickets £16 U18/YoungNNF £7.50

MUSIC

Dowdelin and Join the Din sponsored by

Saturday 27 May, 7.30pm

St Andrew’s Hall rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2

Returning to the Festival for the first time since 1955, The Hallé is one of the UK’s great symphony orchestras. Conductor Kevin John Edusei and pianist Nelson Goerner join with the orchestra for Rachmaninov, Mozzoli and Dvořák’s beguiling Eighth Symphony.

Missy Mazzoli Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres)

Dvorák Symphony No. 8

Tickets £50, £47, £40, £28, £15 U18/YoungNNF £7.50

MUSIC

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