AN INTERNATIONAL day of music will see the town join thousands of places from across the globe in one large music festival.

Darlington will be taking part in this year's Make Music Day on June 21.

Held every year on the summer solstice, Make Music Day hosts a range of music events and performances across the globe over one day.

The aim of the festival is to celebrate the range of music, performed in all kinds of spaces by all kinds of people.

In the UK alone, there will be 1,600 performances expected, and an audience of over 300,000.

The only two rules are that events must be free and held on June 21.

In Darlington, the Durham County Youth Big Band will kick off Make Mine Music Day with a dawn performance of fanfares by the statue of Joseph Pease.

Throughout the day there will also be performances form a number of schools in the town, and a variety of activities from from music assemblies, rock & pop start fancy dress days, formal performances and music-based endeavours.

Young bands from Darlington will also travel to the Gala Theatre for an evening of electrifying rock classics and sensational pop hits in a Battle of the Bands competition with musicians from County Durham.

Bringing the day to a triumphant finish is ceilidh band Cream Tees Folk playing at the Langdon Beck Hotel before heading onto the moors for their last reel.

A spokesperson from Make Music Day said: "Unique to this global celebration is that anyone can perform or take part, all events are free and, wherever possible, are in public spaces and streamed online.

"Started in 1982 as Fête de la Musique, there are now 19,000 events in France with two thirds of the population involved, and it has expanded to over 120 countries, from China to Argentina, Australia to Nigeria.

"Gigs, performances and musical celebrations have been confirmed right across the UK for the solstice, with Durham musicians and music folk doing Make Music Day proud, organising almost 150 events with an estimated 17,000 people taking part in County Durham and Darlington alone, dwarfing the initial target of 5,000 people.

"There are a whole host of different and exciting events currently listed on our events map for the largest grassroots music festival in the world – with more being added all the time."

Events will also be streamed live throughout the day under the hashtag #makemusicdayuk. More information can be found at

makemusicday.co.uk