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Front Row: Manchester International Festival 2015

Manchester International Festival 2015

02/07/2015

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Manchester International Festival 2015

John Wilson presents a special edition from the Manchester International Festival.

A special edition from the Manchester International Festival, featuring Damon Albarn, Moira Buffini, Wayne McGregor, Olafur Eliasson, Jamie xx, Mark Simpson and Alex Poots.

Musician Damon Albarn and playwright Moira Buffini discuss turning Lewis Carroll's 19th century children's novel, Alice in Wonderland, into a 21st century musical - where it's the internet, not a rabbit hole, that leads Alice into a curious new world.

Tree of Codes is the Manchester International Festival's first ballet commission. It's inspired by a book transformed into an artwork, which in turn was inspired by a collection of short stories. Choreographer Wayne McGregor, artist Olafur Eliasson, and music producer Jamie xx discuss the result of their collaboration and its shape-shifting source.

At the age of 17, Merseyside-born Mark Simpson won both the BBC Young Musician of the Year and BBC/Guardian Young Composer of the year, remaining today the only person to have done so. A decade on, his first oratorio, "The Immortal", receives its world premiere at the Manchester International Festival.

After a decade at the helm of the Manchester International Festival, Alex Poots, the festival's founding CEO and Artistic Director will be stepping down. He talks to John Wilson about getting the festival off the ground and why now is the right time for him to say goodbye.

Presenter: John Wilson
Producer: Ekene Akalawu.

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