Sinc 1976 Brick Lane and, more particularly, Nicholas Hawksmoor's iconic Christ Church Spitalfields has resounded with a summer jamboree of exceptional music making. Old and new, and both professionsals and comuunity performers come together for the annual Spitalfields Festival.
With its principal venue, Hawksmoor's church, now restored to its original splendour, the festival is renowned for the high quality its programming and performances. Previous directors have included contemporary composers Judith Weir, Jonathan Dove and Diana Burrell.
The 2011 festival is in the hands of asscoiate artists Harry Bicket and the English Concert as well as multi-instrumentalist Mica Levi. The music covers four centuries from Purcell's The Fairy Queen in the late 17th century to a new, 21st-century community opera We Are Shadows.