The year's theme is The Last Word, with the festival featuring the last masterpieces of Brahms, Schubert and Shostakovich, whilst also looking to the last word on contemporary creativity with special world music collaborations and festival commissions. There's a varied programme of events including a Schubert Day, a jazz weekend, and a world music weekend, as well as free events, education projects, workshops, walks and talks. Here's our pick of the musical marvels on offer: Opening Night Celebrations - Friday 20 May, Victoria Park
 | | Check out pianist Freddy Kempf at the Festival |
To kick off the festival, you can watch a carnival of music and dance as it winds from The Circus to Royal Victoria Park. You'll then be able to waltz around the Royal Crescent as the Bath Philharmonia plays a programme of popular favourites. At 10pm, there'll be a fireworks display, so get your picnics and flags at the ready.
- Time: 6pm
- Price: Free Freddy Kempf - Sunday 22 May, Assembly Rooms Freddy Kempf is widely viewed as one of the most brilliant pianists of his generation. His programme will feature two of Beethoven's best loved piano sonatas.
- Time: 7.30pm
- Price: Various, from £7 to £20 Young Divas: An Evening with Susheela Raman and Gwyneth Herbert - Thursday 26 May, Pavilion This concert celebrates the rise of young female jazz singers in today's music. Susheela Raman's debut album, Salt Rain, was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize Album of the Year. Susheela's repertoire includes classical Indian singing together with blues, jazz and pop. Gwyneth Herbert was talent-spotted by Universal Records, just months after her debut release. Gwyneth will perform both self-penned originals as well as classic jazz with her band.
- Time: 7.30pm
- Price: £14 Jazz on 3, Live - Friday 27 May, Pavilion Jazz on 3 presenter Jez Nelson will host a live broadcast of the BBC Radio 3 jazz programme. It will feature interviews, news, records, reviews and a selection of live performances from some of the artists who are playing at the jazz weekend.
- Time: 11pm
- Price: Free, but a ticket is required Indian Classical Concert - Friday 27 May, Guildhall Two of India's most renowned musicians, Kala Ramnath, on violin, and Yogesh Samsi, on the tabla, will perform together in an evening of Indian classical music.
- Time: 8pm
- Price: Various, from £7 to £12 What is Jazz? - Saturday 28 May, New Oriel Hall, Brooklease Building, Larkhall This is a live and interactive workshop led by the F-IRE Collective - a group of musicians dedicated to 'putting jazz back into the community and the community back into jazz'. The jazz workshop is for children from 6 to 16 years, and you don't even need an instrument! This event is suitable for ages 6 and above, but children under 9 must be accompanied by an adult.
- Time: 11am
- Price: £3 Jaleo Flamenco - Monday 30 May, Theatre Royal Get ready for passion and raw emotion in an evening of flamenco which includes dancing, haunting singing, virtuoso guitar playing and percussive handclapping from southern Spain.
- Time: 7.30pm
- Price: Various, from £5 to £16.50 The Service of Tim Henman - Friday 3 June, Kingswood School Theatre
 | | Will Gregory from Goldfrapp |
Will Gregory, composer and one half of Goldfrapp, has written a piece of music inspired by British tennis ace Tim Henman, to accompany a film of dramatically slowed-down footage of Henman in match play. The performance features a new chamber ensemble of nine monophonic synthesizers, with special featured soloist Django Bates, and contributions from Portishead's Adrian Utley, and Graham Fitkin.
- Time: 7.30pm
- Price: £10 Creative Factory - Saturday 4 June, Pavilion Fifty young people from Bath & North East Somerset and West Wiltshire will perform original material devised through improvisation and collaboration over just five days, before a backdrop of video images.
- Time: 5.30pm
- Price: £5, concessions £3 Family Workshop with English Touring Opera - Saturday 4 June, City of Bath College The English Touring Opera hosts an introductory family workshop. Children aged 6 and over can explore the world of Mozart's The (Little) Magic Flute by meeting the characters, learning songs from the opera, making animal masks, and encountering a magical snake. Children under 9 must be accompanied by an adult who should also take part.
- Time: 10am
- Price: £7, or £5 if you book for one of the performances of The (Little) Magic Flute For a full list of events, and information on how to buy tickets, go to the Bath International Music Festival website - the link's at the top of this page. | 
