the University of York Spring Festival delves into myth and music next week.

Running from Thursday (May 8) to Sunday on campus and in the city, the festival includes lunchtime and late-night concerts, a talk, film and Javanese puppets as well as music spanning four centuries.

At the heart of the festival is the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group's performance of The Theatre Of Magical Beings, conducted by Susanna Mlkki next Friday. This new piece by the Delhi-born composer Param Vir creates fantastical musical images of mythological creatures such as Urobos and Garunda.

More mythical creatures are to be seen on May 10 in Wayang Kancil, which combines the ancient art of Javanese shadow puppetry with the sounds of the gamelan to tell the South East Asian story of Kancil, a cunning deer.

The most famous of all musical myths, that of Orpheus, features in York Vocal Index's programme of music ranging from Lawes to Henze on Thursday.

Urban myths are explored on May 11 in a rare screening of I Was Born But..., Yasujiro Ozu's 1932 look at Japanese culture on the cusp of Westernisation, as seen through the eyes of two boys coming to terms with the rough and tumble of city life. This film with comic timing reminiscent of Buster Keaton will be complemented by the New Music Players playing a score by Edward Dudley Hughes.

The programme's main focus falls on new music and the university music department's commitment to encouraging and promoting the work of young composers. The festival opens on Thursday with a day of composers' workshops with the group Black Hair, followed by a concert of selected scores submitted by students from universities and colleges throughout Britain.

The young vocal trio Juice has commissioned York composers to explore the myths surrounding the number three in their lunchtime concert that day. Concerts by Black Hair, on Friday, and the New Music Players, on May 10, feature music by composers based in York or who have connections with the university. That Saturday concerts marks the end of the New Music Players' three-year post as the university's ensemble in residence.

For more Spring Festival details, ring the box office on 01904 432439.

BREAKING NEWS...

Manfred Eicher, who was to have given the PRS John Lennon Lecture in the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall on Thursday, May 8 has withdrawn after breaking his leg. The lecture will be re-scheduled for the autumn.

University Of York Spring Festival

All events at Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, unless stated.

Thursday, May 8

10am to 4pm, Workshops with Black Hair.

1pm, Heslington Church, Juice, Tales Of Three, exploring myths surrounding the number 3.

8pm, York Vocal Index, Orphologies, four centuries of responses to myth of Orpheus from Henry Lawes and Vaughan Williams to Henze's Orpheus Behind The Wire. Please note, concert moved forward from 10pm.

Friday, May 9

1pm, Black Hair, concert performance of scores rehearsed in Thursday's workshops.

8pm, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, The Theatre of Magical Beings by Param Vir; Jubilees by Magnus Lindberg; Tiroirs by David Sawer; Rain Coming by Takemitsu; Dumbarton Oaks by Stravinsky.

10.30pm, Celtic Ballads, rising folk musicians Miranda Sykes and Sarah Wright.

Saturday, May 10

10am, Professor Wilfrid Mellers, lecture, Fear No More: Shakespeare, Whitman and Myth.

1pm, Black Hair, works by Matthew McGaughey, Lisa Reim, John Stringer and Roger Marsh.

3pm, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, Wayang Kancil, Javanese shadow puppets with Gamelan Sekar Petak.

8pm, New Music Players, works by Matthew McGaughey, Thoma Simaku, Geoffrey Poole, Gordon McPherson, Sadie Harrison and Xenakis.

Sunday, May 11

1.30pm, City Screen, Coney Street, York, I Was Born But..., Yasujiro Ozu film, accompanied by New Music Players.

Updated: 10:51 Friday, May 02, 2003