Set against the awe-inspiring architecture of the City of London this annual three-week event is dedicated to getting the cultural heart of the capital beating. With more than 50 ticketed performances and a further 100 free outdoors events on offer - from music to visual arts, films, walks and talks - this year's festival continues with its Trading Places theme (that is, linking the City culturally and commercially with its historic partners overseas as opposed to eulogising the 80s stock-floor caper starring Eddie Murphy and Dan Ackroyd). The best of London's contemporary and classical music performers will be joined by international musicians in a fortnight of concerts across the Square Mile. Concerts take place inside many of the City's beautiful churches, the Guildhall, Finsbury Circus Gardens, the Barbican, Paternoster Square and many more City landmarks. As always, the heart of the festival will be the great dome of St. Paul's Cathedral. But it's not all about music. The programme is extremely diverse, offering the chance to explore some iconic buildings in the Square Mile such as Mansion House as well as take part in guided walks that reveal the secrets of the area. Events also go on before and after the festival's three-week duration so it is well worth checking what's on at www.colf.org because you'll be surprised at how many things pique your interest and curiosity.
St Paul's Cathedral Christmas Lights
St Paul's Cathedral, EC4M 8AD
3rd November 2009
This Christmas there's a series of major events, all part of A Christmas... More
Bankside Winter Festival
Bankside, SE1 9TG
Friday 12th - Sunday 21st December 2008
The Frost Fair is back for its sixth year, bringing shopping and festive cheer to... More
Many of London’s most idiosyncratic hotels benefit from a historic tradition of opulent living. With hundreds of years of experience in the trade, they combine... More
In French, the expression "Violon d'Ingres" refers to a hidden talent or consuming hobby - named so after the Neoclassical painter Ingres's musical adeptness with ...More
The Takacs Quartet begin their complete cycle of Beethoven's string quartets with two concerts in November at Queen Elizabeth Hall. This is the first of ...More
The Lord Mayor's Show features possibly the most dangerous and amazing of all the public fireworks shows in the capital: river barges are piled ...More
This neat and simple hotel gets all the basics right. The prices are sensible, the rooms are simply and attractively decorated, there's a decent little ... More
Working, domed, city cathedral designed by Wren. Being the cathedral of the capital city, St Paul's is officially the spiritual home of Great Britain. The ... More
Mansion House, the Palace of the London Mayor, was originally for the Lord Mayor to represent the City in appropriate style, Sir Crispin Gascoigne was ... More
For tenants of Smithfield Market getting up in the dark is the nothing
out of the ordinary; with the market opening at 4am these hard working
folk ... More
1 Pasternoster Square,St Paul's Churchyard,The City,
London,
EC4MMap
2 minutes walk from City of London Festival
By rights we should be a nation of jittering hyperactives judging by the proliferation of coffee chains in the capital. Sometimes it seems you can't ... More
Situated in the heart of London, Career Energy – formed in March 2002 - offers comprehensive advice on careers, career change and job searching. They’ll ...More
Bounded in by surrounding office buildings, Postman's Park's appeal lies in what it symbolises as much as how it looks. Located just north of St ... More
Built on the site of a Victorian meat cellar, Fabric continues to boast the most sensational line-ups in the capital. Its global reputation is founded ... More
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Set against the awe-inspiring architecture of the City of London this annual three-week event is dedicated to getting the cultural heart of the capital beating. With more than 50 ticketed performances and a further 100 free outdoors events on offer - from music to visual arts, films, walks and talks - this year's festival continues with its Trading Places theme (that is, linking the City culturally and commercially with its historic partners overseas as opposed to eulogising the 80s stock-floor caper starring Eddie Murphy and Dan Ackroyd). The best of London's contemporary and classical music performers will be joined by international musicians in a fortnight of concerts across the Square Mile. Concerts take place inside many of the City's beautiful churches, the 
