Bill Connor

Do you want the opportunity to sing with BAFTA award winning composer Bill Connor? Sing Out 08, in association with St.Helens Council, will bring together singers of all ages and abilities from across the region to perform a specially commissioned piece by the award winning composer, in honour of Liverpool’s Capital of Culture year.

Graham Morris is a distinguished young 'cellist, winner of the Diane Bolton Prize at the Royal Northern College of Music.. He is coming to the URC next week to give the latest of our enterprising series of Lunchtime Recitals, and with him is the pianist John Peace, aready well-known to us as a soloist (most notably in the Grieg Concerto at
the recent Town Hall concert). Their programme is one not to be missed, including as it does two immortal masterpieces and one work of very doubtful seriousness.

red orchestra, shed seven, ariel chambers and silent thunder

Its just now one day away from Eclectica '08 one of the North West’s most exciting, innovative, and up-and-coming free summer music festivals. Eclectica 08 will see performances from Shed Seven, the Levellers, Amsterdam and The Maybes? in Victoria Square, St.Helens on Saturday 9th August 2008.

As well as these headline acts Eclectica will also show off some of the finest young musical talent from St.Helens: The Cubical, Ghengis Grimes, Mama Beani, The Hang Project, Streetwaves St.Helens 08 winner - Red Orchestra, local school bands - Silent Thunder and Ariel Chambers who will be sure to put on a memorable performance for their hometown.

UPDATE:

We posted the following story at the beginning of August. Since then we've seen another young person come through the music net route to success.

Carmela Finnigan was part of the Music Net launch at the Theatre Royal in 2006. She has now helped St Helens make its mark on the Capital of Culture celebrations by performing a moving rendition of 'Imagine' at the Now that's what we call culture show at the Liverpool Echo Arena.

ORIGINAL STORY:
Two young bands that came through the YOU PLAY event at The Citadel and were part of a 3 month scheme at MAPP are to open up this years Eclectica Festival on Saturday August 9th.

To launch this year’s Eclectica Music Festival, the St.Helens Musicians Collective is hosting a very special FREE event at The Citadel. Yes, that's FREE!

The line-up will definitely have you dancin’, singin' and drinkin' the night away with St.Helens’ favourite bearded band The Loungs, much-loved indie boys The Monte Cristo Blondes and folksters The Prelude. All three bands are playing a whole host of gigs and festivals throughout the summer but this promises to be a fantastic Collective style start to the Eclectica event.

The Street Parade-8.30pm.
Mangueira Samba School's performance at this year’s Carnival 2008 for Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture year is amazing news and adds to the buzz already surrounding what promises to be the biggest carnival Liverpool has ever seen.

Over 80 years old, Mangueira is one of the most celebrated samba schools in the ‘grupo especial’ of Rio de Janeiro’s competitive yearly ‘carnaval’, (in effect, the equivalent of the F.A. Cup for samba), a huge event held in the Sambodromo, a purpose built arena, in Rio each year. Their iconic pink and green colour scheme makes Mangueira stand out amongst the other schools and they have paraded away as champions with the ’super campea’ title on numerous occasions.

Liverpool will be the UK capital of live music this August Bank Holiday, with a radical new programme for the Mathew Street Music Festival.

For the first time in its 16-year history, the annual event – Europe’s biggest - will feature:

* Six outdoor stages across two days in Liverpool city centre
* A new main stage near to the Queensway Tunnel
* A new Mathew St Fringe Festival - featuring original bands indoors
* New themes for all six stages – including Soul, Diva, Brit Pop and New Bands
* Huge LED screens on three stages

Brouhaha brought their lively and entertaining mix of international artists to St Helens today (Saturday 26th July). With weather to match, they created a genuine carnival spirit in Church Square.

I caught amazing drummers from Portugal, throwing their drums in the air and still keeping the beat. Then a Polish brass band with a wonderful mix of tunes. Followed by Italian entertainers scaring young children with their masks - but still enticing some to join in a conga.

"A Recital of Jazz" was announced. What we got was a glorious lunchtime hour at Ormskirk Street URC today (23/7/08) as a 'scratch' jazz group offered a positive master-class in relaxed music-making. An enthralled audience watched and listened captivated, as the players tossed the familiar tunes back and forth to be reworked by various members of the group in turn, genuine improvisation from a group who came together specially for the occasion, with some on-the-spot decisions even as to repertoire.

50 events, 16 venues and over 250 live bands showcased between 30th October and 6th November 2008

Liverpool Music Week and MTV have today announced a partnership for the 6th Annual winter music festival.

The partnership follows the announcement of this year’s MTV Europe Music Awards which is set to be staged at the Echo Arena in Liverpool on Thursday 6th November and will be one of the highlights of Liverpool’s year as European Capital Of Culture.   Liverpool Music Week, the UK’s largest indoor winter music festival will be staging over 50 events, across 16 venues and will play host to over 250 live bands.