City sparkles for 10th anniversary spectacular
of the artworks which are set to bring record crowds, topping2017’snumberof240,000 visitors in four days.
Among the striking installationsisKeysofLightatRushfordCourt,oneinanumberof interactivepieces,inwhichpianistsofallagesperformtheir favourite songs which trigger projections on the side of the building.
The first person to try it out was musical theatre legend, and Black Cat fan, Sir Tim Rice. He said: “I enjoyed the experience enormously.
Youhavetobashthepianoalittle harder than a normal one, but it’s great, what a nice place to play.”
Other large scale attractions on the route are I Love Durham in Market Place which sees the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry statue immersed in a giant multicoloured snow globe; Fogscape ontheriversidewhichcreates ahauntinglybeautifulsetting; Mysticète, near the Radisson Hotel, which sees a whale majesticallybreachintotheRiver Wear and Stones at Durham
Cathedral in which a limited number of visitors can move stones to create atmospheric projections on the front of the landmark building.
Helen Marriage, director of festival organisers Artichoke and artistic director of Lumiere, has been involved in the event since its inception and says she’s delighted with how the region has embraced the bi-annual show.
“I remember coming up here ahead of the first show in 2009, looking at the city and thinking how beautiful it was, how evident the history is and how welcoming the people are,”shesaid.“Iknewwecould do something wonderful, but I thought it would be a one off. Now this is our sixth festival and 10th anniversary and it’s grown to be something that people embrace. This weekend it’s the biggest event taking place in the UK so all eyes will be on the city.”