City of London Festival

Anyone who has lived in this city for any length of time will know that there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye and that it’s almost impossible to discover everything it has to offer on your own. Regardless of how many guidebooks you read or how many websites you subscribe to, you’re still not guaranteed to hear about the gig, the talk or the venue unless you spent every waking hour with your ear to the ground. To avoid this kind of severe earache and to enhance your experience of this great city, there’s events like the City of London Festival.

The City of London Festival is an extensive artistic programme of music, visual arts, film, walks and talks, much of it free to the public, that first started in 1962 to revitalise the cultural life of the City. The Festival “entertains all those that live, work and visit this special location with unique events and world-class artists in beautiful surroundings.” For three weeks each midsummer, the Festival animates the unique buildings and outdoor spaces of the City with more than 50 ticketed performances and a further 100 free events outdoors.” In recent years its international character has been reinforced in its ongoing ‘Trading Places’ theme, linking the City culturally and commercially with its historic partners overseas. Festival performances range from large-scale orchestral concerts in St Paul’s Cathedral to intimate chamber recitals in the City’s beautiful but hidden livery halls, and from innovative aerial acrobatics to jazz bands in the Guildhall Yard.

This year you can catch a range of events including Jazz in the yard on 7 July at the Guildhall Yard, a lecture entitled ‘Truth Is The Light’ on 6 July at Wax Chandlers’ Hall, Pedro Caldeira Cabral – The Guitar Labyrinth on 6th July at the Apothecaries’ Hall and Sond’ar-Te Electric Ensemble the same night at the Mercers’ Hall. For the full selection of events, check out the website at www.colf.org.

25 Holborn Viaduct

London

EC1A 2BP

020 7583 3585