This year the spotlight will be put on the UK as London gets ready to host the 2012 Olympics and the music industry will have a large part to play.The Cultural Olympiad will reach a dramatic climax this summer, as a range of projects and programmes have been running for the past few years in preparation of the sporting event. This year will see more newly-commissioned works as part of New Music 20×12, a project involving 20 new works of 12 minutes long.
Non-commercial projects inspired by the Games will also continue to be commissioned under the Inspire programme, while people aged 14 to 19 years old will continue to take part in Youth Music Voices.
According to the Guardian, one other Cultural Olympiad project that will get people talking this year as it has already garnered controversy, is artist Martin Creed’s Work No 1197: All the Bells in a Country Rung As Quickly and As Loudly As Possible for Three Minutes. On the first day of the Olympics, people from across the country will be encouraged to ring their doorbells, church bells and wind chimes at 8am to mark the event.
As part of the London 2012 Festival, the BBC will broadcast very special Olympics-themed Proms, while the Radio 1 Hackney Weekend will be the BBC’s biggest-ever free live music event.
Music will also play a large part of the opening ceremony, with Elbow commissioned to create the theme tune to the BBC’s 2,500 hours of Olympics coverage.
Elsewhere, 2012 will also mark the 60th anniversary of NME magazine, the Guardian reported, while thousands of Stone Roses fans will get to hear their band play again at the reunion gigs in Manchester.
Indeed, with the absence of Glastonbury this year, attention will be put to the UK’s other music gigs, such as Reading and Leeds and will likely see a huge increase in the rush for these tickets.