It’s all go at the Library today as the Manchester International Festival prepares to swing into action on Friday. Considerable interest has been generated by Damon Albarn’s opera Doctor Dee, and the Librarian is in constant demand from television and radio crews to talk about everyone’s favourite Renaissance polymath. All the excitement has meant that the Library has been obliged to close its doors to the public this afternoon to accommodate the lengths of cable, lighting rigs and photography equipment.
At the same time as this, the dress rehearsal for another MIF production has been taking place in the Baronial Hall. Violinist Alina Ibragimova is performing a programme of musically connected works in several different parts of the medieval building, in a production that features a newly commissioned stop-motion animated film by the Quay brothers. The show runs from 1-17 July and tickets can be obtained at the MIF website.
