Bath International Music Fest(26 May, 2010 – 06 June, 2010)

One of Britain’s most prestigious music festivals is also one of its most eclectic, presenting a mix of classical, contemporary, jazz, world, electronics and folk music.

For over 60 years, the Bath Music Festival has looked to both the past and the future with its broad scope of musical styles.

Performances are hosted in a wide variety of beautiful historic venues within Somerset’s historic city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that was founded as Aquae Sulis, location of a Roman baths and temple, and later became a Georgian spa resort (its famous crescents date from this time).

These venues include Bath Abbey, a former Benedictine monastery where Edgar was crowned King in the 10th century, the Pump Rooms (a neo-classical salon within the redeveloped baths) and the Assembly Rooms, National Trust-owned public spaces used for fashionable functions in the 18th century.

Performers feauturng in 2010 include the Arditti String Quartet, the Navarra Quartet, Rustavi Ensemble, Tom Arthurs and Richard Fairhurst, Kenny Wheeler and John Taylor, Booker T, Acoustic Ladyland, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. The unique setting of the 2,000-year-old Roman baths is the extraordinary setting for a Handel opera extravaganza – this year the featured opera is Israel in Egypt.