A major art installation on a north Norfolk beach and a new gravity-defying circus show are among the first events announced for next year's Norfolk and Norwich Festival.
The annual arts extravaganza has today announced the first nine events for the 2018 festival which will run from May 11 to 27. The full line-up will be revealed in February.
New festival director Daniel Brine said: 'We are hugely excited to be able to announce some of the first shows for the 2018 festival. The programme showcases a fantastic mix of international artists, exciting UK companies as well as local artists, residents and indeed our landscape too.'
UK circus company Barely Methodical Troupe will headline the Adnams Spiegeltent programme with the premiere of the show Shift combining circus, dance and parkour.
Wells beach will host a major art installation inspired by the Icknield Way, which runs from Dorset to Norfolk and is said to be the oldest road in Britain. Called Wayfaring, the project will see artists And Now: gather found materials to craft the installation and on the final weekend it will be transformed with illumination, music and performance.
Norwich Theatre Royal will host three music events including performances by multi-platinum selling singer-songwriter Ben Folds and Grammy-nominated group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Britten Sinfonia, conducted by Thomas Adès, will perform Beethoven's Symphonies No. 4 and 5 and be joined by pianist Nicolas Hodges for Gerald Barry's Piano Concerto. The theatre will also welcome back choreographer Hofesh Shechter with his latest work Grand Finale.
London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Robert Trevino, will perform works by Mahler and Rachmaninoff with pianist Arseny Tarasevich-Nikolaev at Norwich's St Andrew's Hall.
Stopgap Dance Company will work with local dancers to present The Seafarers, a free part-gig part-spectacle on Great Yarmouth's seafront celebrating our relationship with the sea.
Norwich Puppet Theatre will host The Paper Man, a new production by theatre company Improbable which explores fascism and is inspired by the unexplained death of Austrian football star Matthias Sindelar who humiliated the Nazi regime by refusing to throw a football match.
The festival will runs from May 11 to 27 May. Visit www.nnfestival.org.uk
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