A CELEBRATION of music banned by the Nazis and a light-hearted look at the lives of wartime evacuees will feature in two events at Thornbury Arts Festival.

Forbidden Songs is a programme of music that the Third Reich deemed to be “degenerate” because it did not conform to the Nazi ideal.

It includes pieces by composers such as Schubert, Mendelssohn, Clara and Robert Schumann, Brahms and Mahler in the first recital together by soprano Sarah Gabriel and pianist Robin Green.

The duo have added works by Berg, Schoenberg, Korngold and Weill - contemporary composers that had also been condemned - to the concert, to be held at 7pm on Sunday, April 17, at a new festival venue at the Old Down Estate, Tockington.

A regular location will be used when the Bristol-based Ministry of Entertainment makes a welcome return to the festival, this time with its production Doodlebugs and Bogeymen, to be staged in the Armstrong Hall, Thornbury, at 7.30pm on Thursday, April 21.

The performance coincides with the 75th anniversary of the end of the Blitz - the heavy and frequent bombing attacks on London and other cities, such as Bristol, for eight months during the Second World War until mid-May 1941.

Doodlebugs and Bogeymen is based on true stories and takes a fond look at how youngsters Jean and Brian Milton coped with living in the countryside after being evacuated in 1941 from Bristol.

The arts festival will run for ten days, with comedy performer Tim Brooke-Taylor launching the event on Friday, April 15, when he teams up with writer and broadcaster Chris Serle for an on-stage chat about his career.

Evening and lunchtime events have been included in the programme, which also features Dr Phil Hammond’s subversive comedy, wildlife cameraman Martin Saunders, playwright Catherine Johnson and BBC health correspondent Dominic Hughes.

After his Old Down concert, Robin Green will return with violinist Maia Broido and cellist James Barralet for Transfigured Night - an evening of Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven.

But some events have already sold out, including a concert by singer/songwriter Seth Lakeman and Andy Day’s Dino Rapping Fun shows.

Visit www.thornburyartsfestival.com for full details about events and tickets.