Bit of a coup for Manchester International Festival, which, during its off-year, has just announced that it will promote Leonard Cohen’s first UK concerts in 15 years. The Canadian singer-songwriter obviously enjoyed his visit to Manchester last July and has now signed up for four nights on 17-20 June.

He’s also performing at Glastonbury, Edinburgh Castle, the O2 Arena and the Big Chill festival this summer - but MIF got to him first, as is their intention.

As with Gorillaz’ Demon Days concerts in 2006, the 1,900-seat Opera House will host what festival director Alex Poots calls a ‘trailblazer’ for the second Manchester International Festival in 2009 - and why not splash out when you’ve just received an extra £1m from Arts Council England.

Tickets for the concerts will go on sale on Friday 14 March at Ticketmaster.co.uk.