Jools Holland and Alison Moyet head to Perth Festival of Arts

A HOST of top acts feature in this year’s Perth Festival of the Arts, including Jools Holland, former Spice Girl Melanie C and Alison Moyet.

Now in its 43rd year, the festival also has a strong classical line-up and this will lead to a first for Perth Concert Hall when its orchestra pit will be used for the first time during a full-scale production of the Magic Flute.

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra will open the festival and among the top acts will be Montenegran classical guitarist Miloš Karadaglic and the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Mnozil Brass from Austria and pop band Scouting for Girls.

In addition, the festival will see the return of the arTay contemporary art marquee featuring more than 70 Scottish artists and 300 displays, located outside Perth Concert Hall.

Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra will be returning to the festival after captivating the Perth crowds last year.

This year’s concert will feature former Spice Girl Melanie C and singer Marc Almond.

The performance of the Magic Flute promises to be one of the highlights of the festival, with a full lighting rig, set and costumes being used along with the orchestra being installed in the pit — the first time this will have happened since the concert hall opened in 2005.

The programme also includes Nocturne — the Romantic Life of Frédéric Chopin, with Lucy Parham, Dame Harriet Walter and Henry Goodman.

Local talent will be on show with the Perthshire Cantata, a new commission by Dougie MacLean.

Perthshire actor Ian Grieve will perform in Confessions of Gordon Brown, a sell-out success at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.

In addition, Scottish Soprano Colleen Nicoll, from Dunkeld, will sing a Saturday morning recital in St John’s Kirk, Perth, and the Reduced Shakespeare Company will perform all 37 Shakespeare plays in 97 minutes.

Festival chairman Peter Rutterford said: “We are very much looking forward to an exciting year at the festival with a number of international stars, particularly Vasily Petrenko and Miloš Karadaglic.”

Perth Festival of the Arts takes place from May 22 to June 1.

Tickets will go on sale at 10am on Monday at Perth Concert Hall or are available at www.perthfestival.co.uk.

Pictures: Kim Cessford/BBC/PA. Clockwise, from top left: Jools Holland, Melanie C and Marc Almond will perform at Perth Concert Hall, as will Alison Moyet.