A MASSED male chorus of 100 voices in a celebration of the Christmas Truce between soldiers in the First World War will mark the opening of the Ageas Salisbury International Arts Festival 2014 in a special installation in the Cathedral Cloisters this May.

Full details of the 2014 Festival programme have been revealed by organisers.

Close Encounters on the opening Saturday (May 24) will continue the celebrations. The day will feature free entertainment for all in Salisbury Cathedral Close, including the classic Festival Playday, a wide variety of new, world-class street theatre and installations, diverse food stalls and more. The Fireworks will take place in the evening with Salisbury Live hosting local bands in pubs throughout the city.

A new free event, City Encounters, the following day will see exciting street theatre, circus and dance spring up around the city with over 80 food stalls in the International Market.

Festival 2014 will host an exciting range of family events, including favourites Illyria who return with a performance of Roald Dahl’s George’s Marvellous Medicine. A triple bill of family literature events includes music and storytelling from local children’s author Kristina Stephenson.

There are plenty of events to engage children of all ages, from re-workings of classic stories like Pinocchio and The Frog and The Princess to entirely new experiences and workshops for hands-on creativity. There’s even a disco for under-fives.

The literature programme boasts Kate Adie, Barry Norman, Rachel Joyce, Peter Snow and others, and offers a diverse range of topics for discussion and debate. The Festival is joined by Iceland’s leading poet and author, Gerdur Kristny, who will give live poetry readings inspired by the literature of her homeland.

Salisbury Cathedral will host a number of spectacular events, a fitting tribute to the life and works of the late Sir John Tavener from the South Iceland Chamber Choir, as well as a magnificent performance by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andris Nelsons.

But it’s not just classical music on offer. There’s everything from the energetic Romanian troupe Taraf de Haïdouks, and Terje Isungset, one of Norway’s most distinctive artists who plays musical instruments hand-carved out of pure ice. to festival favourite Clare Teal celebrating her musical heroines, and Michael Morpurgo offering a musical retelling of The Mozart Question.

The programme also includes stunning dance and circus performances like the Iceland Dance Company performing a triple-bill of works by Scandinavian choreographers, and Sharon Eyal from Israel.

Rime, a new show from Square Peg Contemporary Circus, combines circus with theatre and dance to tell Coleridge’s classic tale The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, all set to a Nordicinspired sound track.

The Festival also has a diverse film programme featuring a Nordic Noir Night of Jar City, Insomnia and Hour of the Lynx, the new film starring Sofie Gråbøl of The Killing.

The comedy line-up is headlined by Miles Jupp and also includes appearances from Mark Steel, with a bespoke evening about the quirks of Salisbury, the Reduced Shakespeare Company racing through all of the Bard’s plays in hilarious style, a culture collision from Luke Kempner in The Only Way Is Downton and spontaneous stand-up from Radio 4 favourite Alex Horne and the Horne Section.

Highlight events include singersongwriter Madeleine Peyroux.

Booking opens on Tuesday at salisburyfestival.co.uk or by calling 0845 241 9651.