Looking at what Alight is all about

Music Nation: Alight

3 Mar 2012

A festival of music, dance and visual arts featuring more than 650 performers

Part of the BBC's Music Nation, uniting orchestras, musical groups, choirs and concert halls all over the UK. Community groups from across Sheffield and the region will come together to participate in a day-long music, dance and visual arts celebration in various venues and settings. Venues include the Winter Gardens, the Hubs, the Town Hall, the Victoria Hall and Weston Park Museum, most of which will be free to attend. Babel Songs, Sheffield Music Academy, Sheffield Hallam University students, the Sheffield City Giants – two 20ft-tall Catalan-style giants – Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, Sheffield Youth Orchestra, Hype Street Dance, BeVox (choir), OutLoud (LGBT choir), In the Boat (disability group) and University Big Band will all perform. All the Alight groups have been invited to perform at the evening concert, Alight: Twilight, a show directed by Mark Langley featuring more than 500 local performers at the region’s premiere concert venue, the City Hall. The show is based on the history of Sheffield from 1893, using points at which music intersected with its history including the founding dates of the choirs singing in the event, the songs sung by the football teams, the Sheffield Music and the songs sung during the Blitz. Two unique commissions will receive their world premieres as part of Alight. Yaron Hollander has been commissioned to write a piece of music based on Siegfried Sassoon’s poem, Everyone Sang, written in 1919, and Timothy Allen has been commissioned to write a piece to celebrate the varied musical talents that have come together for Alight.

The London 2012 Cultural Olympiad is the largest cultural celebration in the history of the modern Olympic and Paralympic Movements.

Spread over four years, it is designed to give everyone in the UK a chance to be part of London 2012 and inspire creativity across all forms of culture, especially among young people.

It’s been running since 2008, and 14 million people have taken part so far. There are still plenty of opportunities to be a part:

Artists Taking The Lead

Twelve artists have won commissions to create works of art, using the UK as a blank canvas. Find out more about the artists and their projects here

Discovering Places

Explore and be inspired by the UK's hidden gems, from historic buildings to public spaces. Discover more

Film Nation

Inspiring the next generation of film-makers. See how

Legacy Trust UK

From Stirling to Swansea and Belfast to Brighton, Legacy Trust UK projects are helping to build a lasting legacy from the Games in communities across the country. Find out about the projects

New Music 20x12

Twenty new works, each lasting 12 minutes, full of the hope, energy and excitement that celebrates the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Find out more about the music and composers

Stories of the World

An innovative project that enables people of all backgrounds, from across the UK, to become 'curators' of the collections and objects held in museums, libraries and archives.