Manchester International Festival announces its first commissions for 2015

Brian Cox, Wayne McGregor, Olafur Eliasson, Jamie xx, Framestore, Kevin Macdonald, Justin Fletcher and Magic Leap are all lined up as artists taking part in MIF15.

Tickets go on sale today for the first commissions for next year's festival, taking place from 2-19 July. MIF Members get first dibs and tickets go on general sale from Thu Nov 20 at 10am.

Guests gathered at the MIF offices on Monday night to hear from Sir Howard Bernstein, CEO of Manchester City Council, who spoke about the huge benefits that MIF brings to the city, economically and culturally.

Then the CEO and Artistic Director of the Festival, Alex Poots, talked through three events from what will be the 2015 programme, which will be announced in full in February.

Tree of Codes
A new contemporary ballet directed and choreographed by Wayne McGregor with music composed by Jamie xx and visual concepts by the artist Olafur Eliasson.

The Age of Starlight
Professor Brian Cox writes and presents, whilst Oscar winning director Kevin MacDonald directs something very new, a completely original take on the planetarium and the story of the universe, with groundbreaking technology by Rony Abovitz and Magic Leap, CGI by Tim Webber and Framestore, who won Oscars for their work on the film 'Gravity'. 

The Tale of Mr Tumble
A new theatre show for young children and families; Justin Fletcher invites audiences to step inside the colourful world of one of our most cherished TV characters.

Reaction to the announcement was incredibly positive, with surprise and delight especially greeting 'The Tale of Mr Tumble' which ensures that family audiences are at the centre of MIF15.

Guy Garvey followed the announcement talking about Elbow's involvement with the 2009 Festival which saw them playing with the Hallé Orchestra, a concert which was broadcast live to thousands of people who couldn't get tickets, and for free, at Castlefield. To this day, said Garvey, that experience remains the band's favourite performance.

You can become a member of MIF, book tickets and find out more at mif.co.uk