Paralympics Ceremonies

 
 
 

Coldplay will perform at the Closing Ceremony

 

A vast Opening Ceremony entitled 'Enlightenment' kicks off the London 2012 Paralympic Games on Wednesday 29th August before a 'Festival of Flame' Closing Ceremony featuring soft rockers Coldplay will mark the end of the 30th Olympiad on Sunday 9th September.

Filter by category:
 
 

Paralympic Opening Ceremony

Wednesday 29th August - 8.30pm

Olympic Stadium, Olympic Park, Stratford, London, E20 2ST

Tube: Hackney Wick Overground Station

 

Dates: 29th August 2012

 

Just over a month after the start of the London 2012 Olympics, the London 2012 Paralympics get underway with the Opening Ceremony at the Olympic Stadium. Leading British creative talents Bradley Hemmings (Artistic Director of Greenwich and Docklands International Festival) and Jenny Sealey MBE (of Graeae Theatre Company) are the Artistic Directors of the London 2012 Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony, which will showcase some of the UK's best creative performers as well as run through a raft of traditions, such as the raising of the Paralympic and Host Nation's flag, the Athletes' Parade (including some 4,200 Paralympic athletes from 166 participating nations), the speeches, the arrival of the Paralympic Torch and the lighting of the Paralympic Flame. Entitled 'Enlightenment', the ceremony takes its inspiration from the Age of Enlightenment and promises to be a celebration of the international spirit of the Paralympic Games that challenges perceptions of human possibility. The show will open with a fly-over by 'Aerobility', a British charity that trains disabled people to become pilots. All in all, the ceremony will feature more than 3,000 adult volunteers, 100 child volunteers and a professional cast of over 100, with Hemmings stressing his desire for it to be "both spectacular and deeply human". If Danny Boyle's Olympic Opening Ceremony is anything to go by, then Hemmings and Sealey have their work cut out - and it will be fascinating to Londoners, Britons and the world alike to see what they come up with. For a map of where the ceremony will take place and also all other venues in and around London, check out our map of the London Paralympics.

 
 
 

Paralympic Closing Ceremony

Sunday 9th September - 8.30pm

Olympic Stadium, Olympic Park, Stratford, London, E20 2ST

Tube: Hackney Wick Overground Station

 

Dates: 09th September 2012

 

One of Great Britain's most popular bands, Coldplay, will be the star act of the Paralympic Closing Ceremony on Sunday 9th September 2012, which will signal the conclusion of the London 2012 Games and the 30th Olympiad. Kim Gavin, the creative director behind the glorious Olympic Closing Ceremony, is once again in charge of proceedings as London's wonderful summer of sport comes to a rousing conclusion with a music-heavy programme. Entitled 'Festival of Flame', the Paralympic Closing Ceremony will see Chris Martin's Coldplay take to the stage and perform a live and one-off concert in the Olympic Stadium, broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 750 million. The multi award-winning band have been working with Gavin and designer Misty Buckley to play a set of their most iconic songs alongside a cast of almost 2,000 volunteers and professional performers. It promises to be a flamboyant stage show celebrating not only the host city and nation, but also the ideals of the Paralympics. The ceremony will start with the arrival of flag-bearers from each participating country followed by athletes en masse, arriving into the stadium without any national distinction. Once the Paralympic Flag is taken down, the national flag of the next host nation, Brazil, will be symbolically raised before the extinguishing of the Paralympic Flame marks the end of not only the Paralympics but also London 2012 as a whole.

 
 
 
 
Call now: hotel deals 0207 420 4960