The Culture Show - 2009/2010 - Manchester International Festival

Tim Marlow presents from Albert Square in Manchester in the final week of the Manchester International Festival. Tim looks at the collaboration between Elbow and the Halle, the city's world-renowned symphony orchestra and its original cultural icon. Over two nights at the Bridgewater Hall, Elbow and the Halle are playing songs from across the band's career, curated in collaboration with Mancunian composer Joe Duddell. Tom Dyckhoff takes to a barge to tell the story of Manchester's distinctive look, and reviews Zaha Hadid's new chamber music hall installed in the Manchester Art Gallery. Conductor and music critic Jason Lai finds out how Bach's solo works sound in the new music hall, with a special performance by Alina Ibragimova on violin. In A Paean to Wilson, Vini Reilly of the Durutti Column pays a special tribute to Tony Wilson, whose Factory Records did so much to define Manchester in the 80s and 90s. A team of critics joins Tim Marlow to review the whole festival - 18 days of world premieres. There is also another session from Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's Screening Room. The pair argue about the merits of music biopics, with the help of a live audience.