THIS year’s Bradford Festival has officially started with a musical extravaganza attended by 1,400 school children.

Schools from across the district descended on City Park this morning to mark the start of the three day event.

Through the day there were performances by school bands, mass sing alongs and dance sessions involving hundreds of children. There has been a huge variety of music on show, from Samba to pop choirs.

Shortly after lunch, members of the Bradford Youth Wind Orchestra performed perform alongside professionals from The Symphonic Brass of London Big Band in a celebration concert.

And 120 pupils who have taken part in a ‘Band on the Run’ project took to the stage to wow their peers.

The crowds of young people who attended enjoyed the music themed events, despite having to put up with the first rain to hit the city in weeks.

The day has also seen workshops by the Bradford Local Cultural Education Partnership who are giving pupils the opportunity to experience a number of creative and musical pursuits, such as poetry, story making, art, ‘try an instrument’, music technology and DJing and lyric writing.

This afternoon will see a number of musical acts taking to the stage.

At 4.45pm the stage will be taken over by the Heavy Beat Brass Band, a New Orleans style brass band that remixes modern pop classics with New Orleans brass, funk and hip hop.

The day continues at 6pm with a collaboration between the Bradford Youth Orchestra and Normanton Street, with artists from Rubxicube Music Lab. Normanton Street has a lyrically focused sound combining three distinctive vocals with jazz influenced guitars, warm bass grooves and tight rhythmic drums. The band is made up of childhood friends, Ned and Nicholson, who grew up making music on the same street in Bradford, and Phoebe who they met one night after a show.

At 7pm The White Ribbons will perform their set of songs which challenges sexism within the music industry.

At 8pm Waiting for Wednesday round off the night. The female folk duo will be backed by a full band to nail harmonies in stirring songs of love, life and protest.

The festival continues until Sunday evening. For the full line up visit bradfordfestival.org.uk/