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What's on

6 Music headed to this year's Manchester International Festival, with coverage in the following programmes:

Radcliffe and Maconie, live in Festival Square, Thursday 29 June to Friday 7 July, 13:00-16:00 each day, including

- Mark Radcliffe with Mary Anne Hobbs on her festival series 'Dark Matter', Grime crew Levelz, James and Andy of Spring King, Festival Directors John McGrath and Christine Cort.

- Mark Radcliffe with Richard Ashcroft, Jon Savage & Matthew Higgs on ‘True Faith’, Composer Huang Ruo on ‘Music for a Busy City’ (and some bee-inspired music), Peter Hook, Graeme Park and Rowetta on Hacienda Classical, Blossoms, Soul singers LaSharvu, who've done backing vocals for Grace Jones and Basement Jaxx, among others, and have now branched out on their own!

- Mark Radcliffe with Simon Stephens & Scott Graham on their show 'Fatherland', Billy Bragg playing live, The Waterboys’ Steve Wickham, KC & The Sunshine Band, and top chef Mary-Ellen McTague who'll be bringing in ‘food for a post-apocalyptic dinner party’.

- Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie with Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, Bonobo, Anna Meredith, 6 Music’s early bird, Chris Hawkins, and 'Party Skills', an immersive show on celebrating life, with directors Nigel Barrett and Louise Mari.

- Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie with actress Jane Horrocks & Stephen Mallinder on 'Cotton Panic!', Everything Everything review their favorurite things about the festival so far, Sampha, Bambino (baby opera)’s director Phelim McDermott, Andy and Steve from Ride, and What If Women Ruled the World's Abi Morgan/Yael Bartana.

- Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie with New Ordwer, Dave Haslam, double-decks DJ extraordinaire, vocal trio Stealing Sheep, artist Phil Collins, and Rogue Emperor will pop by for a chat ahead of the Blue Dot Festival

- Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie with Comedian Mark Watson, James, Video Games Designer Nina Freeman, Maverick French film composer Chassol, and Festival Directors John McGrath and Christine Cort.

Sunday 2 July

Sunday 9 July

Sunday 16th July

Elizabeth Alker will be shining a light on Manchester Street Poem, a music and art installation about the lives of Manchester’s homeless people created for Manchester International Festival by Karl Hyde and Rick Smith of Underworld.

aks listeners to consider how much they value their home and to suggest music that makes them think about the concept of Home.

- Mary Anne Hobbs and Stuart Maconie introduce highlights from Mary Anne's 'Dark Matter' gigs.