As the hot weather continues it’s even more important that young people understand the dangers of swimming in and around open water…

Swim Safe – https://swimsafe.org.uk/- teaches children aged 7 – 14 years old, where it’s safe to swim, how to float and what to do if they or someone else gets in trouble.

Harwich Haven Authority have partnered with Swim England and the RNLI to fund the SwimSafe programme in Harwich.

Free sessions are being held on Dovercourt beach this Summer. Don’t miss out! To book go to https://swimsafe.org.uk/locations/harwich

More information can be found here – https://www.historicharwich.co.uk/harwich-international-shanty-festival-3/

A concert by young musicians in aid of Harwich Mayflower Legacy Fund

Illuminate Festival returns for 2022! This year’s light-show event will take place in March, instead of the usual November slot.

Find out more on our blog.

The Harwich Festival is proud to present our Unsigned Bands Night featuring local grassroots bands.

The Monthly Open Night is on!

Singers, Song Writers, Poets, Comedians, Performers…. Join us at the Harwich Arts & Heritage Centre for the best free show in town.

Bring your own instruments (we have a house guitar if needed) and meet other local artists.

Reading of the proclamation on Ha’penny Pier by the Town Crier, live music, children’s workshops and the creation of a public community artwork.

The lighting of the beacon ceremony will include music played by a bugler to mark the event.

Intarsia is an emerging duo of performers from diverse backgrounds. Jo May and Sarah Matthews have worked together since 2018, combining voice, violin, viola, octave fiddle, tenor guitar, balafon and a whole range of other percussion instruments. The sounds of these wooden instruments blend to create intricate delivery of original and traditional material inspired by English songs, European dance tunes, West African rhythms and more. Intarsia’s debut album ‘Sistere’ was released in October 2020.

A welcome return for Matthew Crampton’s entertaining look at human migration, now with more Harwich stories than ever. Enjoy folksong and expert storytelling while hearing some remarkable local tales.

‘An elegant, vital insight into human suffering and survival,’ Cerys Matthews. ‘Do not miss,’ Songlines magazine.

Baluji Shrivastav- virtuoso multi-instrumentalist – The Times

“Intoxicating”-Vogue Runway

“Convention-defying Indian composition that you will want to play over and over again”-Songlines

“blind musician takes the stage with a bold vision excels in sitar, surbahar, dilruba, pakhavaj and tabla”- Times of India

Baluji Shrivastav OBE is an Indian multi-instrumentalist who was blinded at 8 months old and has become one of the worlds leading composers and sitar players. He has performed and recorded with some of the greatest tabla accompanists such as Anindo Chatterji and Ustad Fayaz Khan. He has worked with a wide variety of artists including Stevie Wonder, Massive Attack, Madness, Shakira,Malu, Boy George,Doves. His latest stunning multi media composition – Antardrishti-Inner Vision, funded by an international commission from Unlimited and featuring his Inner Vision Orchestra of blind musicians, dancers and audio-visual artists Addictive TV was performed to great reception at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre in

Sept 2018, followed by Delhi and at the Mumbai Opera House in collaboration with the British Council.

“One of Britain’s best singer-pianists” LONDON EVENING STANDARD

As leader of his jazz quartet, Chris has produced three acclaimed repertoire CDs celebrating the work of Hoagy Carmichael (Hoagy), Dudley Moore (Dudley) and Stan Getz (Stan) and has performed the associated live shows over 150 times throughout the UK. As a composer, in 2017 he provided the soundtrack for the six-part documentary series Wartime Crime for Discovery/UKTV and How the Beatles Changed The World for Netflix. He has been a record producer for singers Ruthie Henshall and Joanna Eden and is the author of Rough Guide to The Beatles and Rough Guide to Frank Sinatra.

Johnson comes to Harwich Festival to perform his original work, which, since its release, has been featured and playlisted on specialist radio programmes across the UK.

Johnson grew up in a non-musical household but knew from an early age that the piano would become his lifeline. The instrument allowed him to explore and express himself as a young boy growing up, before it began to help him communicate with other people.

You can follow him on his social channels: Twitter @pianistUK, Facebook: @pianistUK, Instagram: @danieljohnsonpianistuk

Guitarist, composer, bandleader, educator

Jeffery Wilson – Saxophones and Clarinet

Christopher Weston – Piano

Where classical meets jazz.

Music by Gershwin, Francaix, Richard Rodney Bennett, Rudy Wiedoeft and world premieres from Weston and Wilson.

We are excited to bring Nigel Clark (singer of Indie band Dodgy) to Harwich as part of this years annual festival.

Although Established in his own right as a successful solo artist, you may know him from his work with 90s Indie band Dodgy. The band had many chart hits including ‘Good Enough’, ‘Staying Out for the Summer’ and ‘In a Room’ to name a few.

Support comes from Colchester Singer Songwriter Rosalind Harniess.