Stendhal to be ‘Divine’

Stendhal Festival of Art has announced the headline acts for the festival at Ballymully Cottage Farm, Limavady, on August 16 and 17.

Headlining the Friday evening of the Festival will be Duke Special, while bringing the event to a glorious conclusion on Saturday is ‘The Divine Comedy.’

Duke Special is an artist aptly named. Dynamic, musically ambitious and bracingly eccentric, with his inimitable style and lush musicality.

Hailing from Belfast with a sound that is self-confessed “hobo-chic”, Duke Special - AKA the endlessly inventive Peter Wilson - is once heard, never forgotten. Blissfully at home in his own alluring genre of beautifully bruised romanticism, Duke Special inhabits a world unlike any other - a world filled with vaudeville-esque sensibility, sing-a-longs and addictive melodies.

The Divine Comedy is the alias of Northern Ireland’s premier pioneer of Orchestral Pop music, Neil Hannon.

In a career spanning almost 25 years, The Divine Comedy have released 10 albums and had numerous singles post in the UK top 40 singles chart.

Having returned this year to his home town of Derry to take part in the Sons and Daughters concert and Other Voices, Stendhal is delighted to welcome Neil to Limavady for the first time ever, in what promises to be an unmissable opportunity to catch Neil Hannon perform an intimate solo gig in an intimate setting.

In addition to the headliners and the acts which have already been announced which include Paddy Casey, Mick Wilson of 10cc and a host of others, the following acts have also been added to the line-up for this year’s festival: Grant Hart and the Burn Burning, Vanilla Gloom, The Dead Presidents, Noel Flynn, The Down and Out Bluegrass band, Dying Breed, Antidote Emcee Showcase feat. Gerard i2, Bee Mick See and human beat box Cull, Dramatic Tiger Club, Cahir McLaughlin, Scala Strings and a special DJ set and talk from Belfast’s Godfather of Punk, Terri Hooley.

The Festival has also announced that headlining the Comedy programme at this year’s festival will be the award-winning John Moloney.

John’s side splitting routines have seen him make numerous television appearances over years on shows such as, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, They Think It’s All Over, The Comedy Store, Live at Jongleurs, Grumpy Old Men and numerous others.

Stendhal has also announced their children’s programme for this year, all that information and much more can be found on www.stendhalfestival.com.

Organiser of Stendhal Festival of Art, Ross Parkhill, commented: “Having put the finishing touches to our musical line-up for this year’s festival we are confident in saying that our bill is the strongest it has ever been.

“We can’t wait to play host to what we believe will be one of the most magical events of the year in all of Northern Ireland this August.”

Tickets to the event cost from just £30 for the weekend and £45 for a family weekend pass and can be purchased at any Ticketmaster office or on ticketmaster.co.uk, from Stendhalfestival.com or at The Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre in Limavady. See Stendhalfestival.com for more details.