music & performance

music & performance

We’ve always known that Liverpool is a big music city, from The Beatles to Elvis Costello, Echo and the Bunnymen to The La’s. But now it’s official: the Guinness Book of Records has named Liverpool the World Capital of Pop. The award was made because Liverpool artists have had more No. 1 singles than any other city, and there certainly seems to be an innate musical talent that permeates Liverpudlians and Liverpool.

Liverpool theatre has a fantastically strong reputation too, and Liverpool City Region has plenty of top theatre performance spaces. The legendary Everyman and Playhouse theatres stage world premieres by local and international writers, and the two famous Liverpool theatres are responsible for launching the career of several celebrated actors (Bill Nighy, Julie Walters and the late Pete Postlethwaite all started out at one of them).

But if you visit Liverpool you should not miss out on The Philharmonic Hall, home to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra led by the celebrated Vasily Petrenko. As well as fully orchestrated classical concerts, The Philharmonic Hall also stages all kinds of musical events, from jazz to contemporary music, Elvis Costello live to choral renditions of the full Beatles’ repertoire.