SightSonic has been running an international digital arts festival in York, "with digital technology at the heart of the creative process", since 2000. SightSonic is a collaborative effort, supported by partners including: Arts Council England, Yorkshire ; City of York Council; City Screen; Creative Arts Promotion; Cube Media; First Stop York; KMA Creative Technology; LazenbyBrown; Lovebytes; National Centre for Early Music; Morrice Partnership; Music Research Centre; National Music Management Group; OpenEnded Group; Purple Marketing; Red Sand; Science City York; Touch; Tribeca York; Umol Xsapida; University of York Electronics and Music Departments and Music Research Centre; York St John University; York Theatre Royal.

Spire is the first event in SightSonic's new year-round programme. Bringing leading artists, both national and international, to York, SightSonic is an inspiring mix of art forms created or realised by digital means. SightSonic promotes and showcases divergent artistic events ranging from audio concerts, video and film screenings, gallery and public installations, open-air performances to on-line work, whilst fostering the development of work by new and emergent artists.

Since its first release in 1982, Touch has created sonic and visual productions that combine innovation with a level of care and attention that has made it the most enduring of any independent music company of its time.

The first period up to the digitisation of music in the mid-80's saw the release of several cassette magazines, where sounds by luminaries such as New Order, Cabaret Voltaire and The Residents were paralleled by visual work and writing by Neville Brody, Jon Savage, Joseph Beuys and many others. As the industry went through its usual elaborate cycles of self-annihilation and rebirth, Touch adapted to incorporate new technologies with the old, underscoring the power and necessity of editing and presentation to bring the best out of each production.

Now working extensively with Fennesz, Chris Watson, Philip Jeck, Biosphere, Ryoji Ikeda, BJNilsen and many others, Touch celebrated its 20th year in 2001 with a UK CMN-backed tour, including sell-out dates in Brighton, Bristol, Glasgow, Newcastle, Salisbury and the QEH in London. The transitions from analogue to digital, from camera-ready artwork to broadband file-sharing and from 1/4" masters to website downloads are only the surface manifestations of the great changes that have taken place in recorded music over the last 20 years. Touch has been at the forefront of these changes, and will continue to be.

The University of York's annual concert series promotes some 55 events each season, ranging from early music to new music, folk and jazz. As well as bringing international musicians to the city, the series is also a platform for the high standard of performance within the University and its music department. www.yorkconcerts.co.uk; boxoffice@york.ac.uk

York Minster Society of Change Ringers will perform examples of some of the earliest of bell ringing patterns called "methods". These will include Grandsire and Stedman Caters, methods that bell ringers in England have performed for more than 350 years.

English Change Ringing involves swinging the bells round in complete circles to give a rich sound, and working out complex mathematical patterns, sounding each bell every two seconds in different musical rows. It involves teams of ringers working together and is both an athletic and abstract art form that was developed as a sporting activity by young sons of the English gentry in the late 16th/early 17th Century.

Change ringing is now well established as a part of English culture and heritage and, whereas in most parts of Europe bells are now swung by electric motors or played by one person from a keyboard, in England teams of people of all ages still meet on a weekly basis and ring "peals" of musically tuned bells.

The nave of York Minster will be emptied of all of its seating in the period during which the concert takes place. York Minster is engaged in raising some £30 million to repair and conserve the east front and great east window; to underpin the educational work done by the Minster Library and the Centre for School Visits, and to secure the future of the Minster Choir.
The Minster receives no government funding and relies entirely on the generosity of the public.
Donations can be sent to The Development Office, Church House, Ogleforth, York YO1 7JN
Cheques should be made payable to York Minster Fund.