Lucca in Tuscany, Italy, birthplace and home of the great operatic composer Giacomo Puccini, is organising a rich calendar of events celebrating his birth, 150 years ago.
Many arias from Puccini's operas are enjoyed daily, throughout the world, for example the moving Nessun Dorma and the haunting O Mio Babbino Caro, making him the world's most performed composer.
Lucca, enjoys an excellent geographical position, just 20 km from Pisa, 70 km from Florence, 25 km from Viareggio and approximately 100 km from Massa. It boasts mountains and lakes, beaches, wetlands, underground grottoes and thermal springs. The region offers tourists an infinite variety of landscapes and activities, not least, renowned food and wine to accompany great music. No wonder Puccini was never short of inspiration.
To mark 50 years of NASA, together with the first US satellite and coincidentally, the 40th anniversary of the day the Beatles recorded 'Across the Universe', the song is to be beamed directly into space. Many years from now, alien researchers scanning space for the evidence of intelligent life, will decode the lines: 'nothing's going to change my world'.
To make an even bigger bang, fans around the world are invited to simultaneously play a recording of 'Across the Universe' at midnight GMT on Monday 4 February, 2008.
There is a nice video including archival pictures of the Beatles, with an early, pre-recording arrangement of the song, posted on YouTube by Anourag.
Each week, for a whole year, from October 1, 2006 until September 23, 2007, Canadian singer/songwriter Kevin Bath, released a CD every week. Each album had 8 original songs written, performed, recorded and released by him.
The result, 52 CDs containing 416 songs, by one musician, setting a new world record.
You can listen to his work by visiting his website and read more about Kevin Bath in an article on ChartAttack.
This video has been posted by Jampa, a Dutch Buddhist in the Tibetan tradition, who suggests that inner peace is the most solid foundation for world peace. His blog contains a thought provoking and interesting article by Claudia Sobrevila on Environmental Healing and World Peace.
The last WOMAD festival of 2007 is again in the Canary Islands, 22 - 27 November. Fabulous music, arts and dance from around the world, with the exhilarating backdrop of the beachside city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
The festival is free and open to the public, so no need to book tickets, just be there.
Although many of the Liverpool 08 public art events will be free, tickets to big concerts, are being sold through a public ballot.
Major concerts include Paul McCartney's return to his native city, headlining a huge event at Anfield Stadium, home of Liverpool United football club; a terrific opening show, headlined by fellow ex-Beatle Ringo Starr and Eurythmic's Dave Stewart, at the brand new Liverpool Arena, and the long-overdue return to Liverpool of one of its favourite sons, Simon Rattle, who returns to conduct a concert in the hall where he began his stellar music career.
Due to the national strike of Royal Mail postal workers, the Liverpool Culture Company has extended the deadline to register for the Liverpool 08 ticket ballot to Sunday, October 14, 2007. Registration forms can be collected at a number of locations in the city and online.
The Wickerman Festival - Scotland's Alternative Music Event
The Wickerman Festival is Scotland's alternative music event, held annually at East Kirkcarswell Farm, Dundrennan, Scotland; a site close to various locations used in the classic British horror film 'The Wicker Man' (1973). Now entering its seventh year, the festival is regarded as a smaller version of England's Glastonbury, or T in the Park, with a wide mix of music to suit all tastes. The festival organisers have developed a relaxed, family friendly event, with the accent on eclectic tastes in music. Stages include two main stages, a world music and funk tent, a classic Jamaican reggae sound system, an acoustic village, a punk/ska/northern soul tent, a new Scottish bands tent, several dance tents, children's area, workshops, crafts, cinema, camping and, of course, a 30 foot Wickerman who is sacrificed to the festival gods on the closing night.
The 2008 Wickerman Festival will be happening on the 25 and 26 July.
Returning from his customary morning walk, an exhilarated Sibelius told his wife that he could see a flock of cranes approaching. "There they come, the birds of my youth,"he exclaimed. Suddenly, one of the birds broke away from the formation and circled once above them before rejoining the flock to continue its journey. Two days afterwards the great Finnish composer, Jean Sibelius, died of a brain haemorrhage. September 20, 2007, marks the 50th anniversary of his death.
September, 4, 2007, marks the 100th anniversary of the death of great Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. Grieg drew inspiration from Norwegian folk music and is renowned as a nationalist composer; at his funeral over 30,000 lined the streets of his home town. Likewise, the music of Sibelius played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. Both composers left behind some of the world's most lyrical and romantic music. Many concerts of their works are being organized to mark the anniversaries.
Scotland's Edinburgh in August is unique and at its centre is the Edinburgh International Festival of classical music, theatre, opera and dance. This year it celebrates its 60th year and runs from the 10 August to 2 September, 2007.
A central theme of the 2007 festival is Renaissance and earlier music, spearheaded by a performance of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo which itself celebrates 400 years since its first performance, regarded as the birth of Opera.
There are a large number of Music Holidays to be found in our database.
At Wimbledon, the Women's final is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday and rain permitting, the Men's final will start at 2 p.m. Sunday. The Tour de France begins on Saturday with a prologue in London, before proceeding across the Chanel for a three week race around France which end in Paris on July 29. And at 1pm Sunday, all eyes will be on Lewis Hamilton, competing in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Incredibly, after the wettest June in the UK for 150 years, the weather is forecast to be dry and sunny, which gives me a nice link to climate in crisis and a note that Saturday's activities will be held against a background of 24 hours of music on 7 continents, courtesy of the Live Earth concerts.
Ravello, a small town on the Italian, Amalfi Coast, enjoys a geography that simultaneously excites and repels tourists. Clinging to the cliff-face, high above above the Gulf of Salerno, the unspoilt hamlet has played host to many a creative genius over the years, including Richard Wagner, Arturo Toscanini, D.H. Lawrence, Joan Miró and M. C. Escher. Every summer, the town is host to a festival celebrating its artistic connections, the Ravello Festival. Ravello Festival is the oldest of the Italian arts festivals after the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and is particularly famous for open-air concerts in the Villa Rufolo, with its wonderful Mediterranean backdrop.
The festival is notable for the concert program but features other events such as the visual arts section; this is dedicated to Maurits Escher, who acknowledged the influence that Ravello and the Amalfi Coast had on his work.
This year's festival runs 30 June to 30 September 2007.
27 May - 3 June 2007 is the period of the World Festival of Puppet Art in Prague, Czech Republic. The city also has a puppetry museum, which is situated in a beautiful old 16th century building next to the Charles Bridge, one of Prague's main tourist attractions.
The last WOMAD festival of 2007 is again in the 
