MUSIC & LITERATURE FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS IN MAY

In May, we kicked off the festival season with another incredible Party in the City with over 150 free gigs in 39 venues across sun-kissed Bath. The streets, parks, pubs, bars, cafes and clubs were alive with music, laughter and good vibes.

Our audiences then enjoyed a huge array of stimulating literary events on a broad range of topics and the highest calibre of classical music in some of Bath’s most beautiful venues, as part of Bath Literature Festival and Bath Music Festival.

Ruth Jones, of Gavin and Stacey fame, comedians David Baddiel and Ivo Graham, the Rev Richard Coles, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Countdown’s Susie Dent, gardener Carol Klein and broadcasters Jeremy Vine and Reeta Chakrabarti were among the well-known faces appearing at the festival.

Over nine days, we hosted internationally acclaimed authors including Booker Prize winner Sir Ben Okri, Booker nominee German author Daniel Kehlmann, and veteran journalist Max Hastings, and many sell-out events included The Salt Path author Raynor Winn, naturalist Robert Macfarlane, actor Martin Clunes and American writer Lionel Shriver. We enjoyed tales from on and off the rugby pitch with The Good, the Bad and the Rugby featuring Mike Tindall, James Haskell and Alex Payne and a series of cultural lunchtime lectures covering topics including George Orwell, Britain’s coastline and the art of Turner and Constable.

World-renowned musicians, pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason and classical guitarist Sean Shibe were among the visiting artists at the festival. Cellist Guy Johnston, who performed an extraordinary trio of concerts, playing all of Bach’s cello suites, and Stile Antico, made a welcome return to the city.

Party in the City, Bath Literature Festival and Bath Music Festival held a fundraiser closing event in Komedia on Bank Holiday Monday this year with Reverend and the Makers, supported by The Ramona Flowers and Alex Lipinski & The Crown Electric. These fundraisers helps us keep Party in the City free for all. Proceeds from ticket sales, minus venue hire, tech, and transport go into the pot. The bands kindly waivered their performance fee to support this festival. You can make a donation to our charity at any time here.

Party in the City was curated and produced by Bobby Crowhurst and Chris Rogers. The literature programme was curated by Festival Director John McLay and guest curator Joe Haddow, BBC Radio 2 Book Club producer. The music programme was curated by Artistic Director James Waters, who is also Director at the feted Lammermuir Festival.

“We were so delighted with the response to our programmes,” said Bath Festivals’ Executive Chair Richard Hall, “Tickets sales were more than 40 per cent up on 2024.”

A huge thank you to our sponsors, patrons, friends and the army of volunteers who steward events. We couldn’t do it without you.

This year’s festivals may have come to an end, but we have plenty of events on sale at the moment, and don’t forget to sign up to our newsletter to be the first to hear news about what’s coming up.