City of London Festival 2013

Time Out says

Wed Dec 5 2012

The annual City of London Festival returns with a huge range of events based on three interlocking themes: city walls, trees and conflict and resolution. Highlights of the programme include performances marking the one hundredth anniversary of Benjamin Britten's birth, including his 'War Requiem'; a newly commissioned song cycle for the Brodsky Quartet; a new choral and orchestral work marking the 400-year relationship between the City of London and Derry/Londonderry; and a plethora of walks, talks, street theatre, dance and family events, many of them free. Highlights include 'If Only Trees Could Talk' walks in the City (Jun 29), the singalong musical walk 'Singing in the City' (Jun 29), 'The City at War and Peace' art tours (Jul 6/7), a series of talks and poetry readings at Gresham College, and a pop-up mobile orchard made of both real and manufactured trees. Locations for this peripatetic orchard are Paternoster Square (June 24-29); Devonshire Square, (July 1-6); The Gherkin (July 8-13); New Street Square (July 15-20) and Finsbury Square (July 22-26). See website for full festival details.