In 2010 the City of London Festival will resonate with the distinctive sounds of music from the Portuguese-speaking world, get the Square Mile buzzing with bees and beehives and celebrate the 200th birthday of Chopin.

The 2010 Festival opens in the Guildhall Old Library on 21 June with the Portuguese Chamber Orchestra making its UK debut and with virtuoso Brazilian pianist Cristina Ortiz as soloist in Chopin's Piano Concerto No 2. This is to be followed by an outdoor performance in Guildhall Yard, specially designed by Luke Jerram: 21 young pianists will play a newly commissioned work for 21 upright pianos by Richard Causton, drawing on all 21 of Chopin's Nocturnes. (Chopin himself had made his final public appearance as a pianist in Guildhall more than 150 years ago). The pianos will then be dispersed throughout the City: Street Pianos, back by popular demand and available for all to play throughout the three Festival weeks.

The Festival will also 'commission' new honey through the installation of a number of beehives throughout the City. As part of the International Year of Biodiversity in 2010, bee-related events will include newly commissioned poetry and music, tastings, seminars and a lecture by the Bishop of London.

Among other artists confirmed for the Festival's music programme are the London Symphony Orchestra and the Monteverdi Choir conducted by John Eliot Gardiner, pianist Artur Pizarro, the Gulbenkian Choir (Lisbon), soprano Patricia Rozario, cellist Antonio Meneses, A Capella Portuguesa, the Orlando Consort, Grand Union, Britten Sinfonia with pianist Joanna MacGregor, Sond'Ar-te Electric Ensemble with percussionist Pedro Carneiro, guitarist Pedro Caldeira Cabral, BBC Singers, Aurora Orchestra and many more.

The Festival's dance projects include a new work commissioned from the Brazilian choreographer and capoeira master, Ponciano Almeida, set against the backdrop of some of the City's most historic and iconic places - Tower of London, Monument and Royal Exchange, and a week of performances by Deborah Colker's company at the Barbican.