With Manchester International Festival just three weeks away, Mancubist’s comprehensive (read: fairly haphazard) coverage is gearing up. First off, here’s a tip-off about one of your last chances to get tickets to possiby the festival’s biggest event:

Thought you’d be interested to know that the good people at Boosey & Hawkes are giving away 2 tickets to the sold out Kraftwerk/Steve Reich gig, complete with hotel, dinner and… backstage passes!

And in fact the prize includes two nights at the Radisson Edwardian, dinner at The Market Restaurant – plus a chance to meet Reich. To win, you need a Twitter account and then to visit @SteveReich for a series of questions. Check out the latest answers here, and get your own answers in by Friday.

The American composer (a bit of a hero of mine) will be having his new work 2×5 premiered by Bang on a Can at the Manchester Velodrome on 2 July. I’m sure you know what Kraftwerk are all about, but for an introduction to Reich’s music, visit his Myspace. Or if you fancy splashing out, I highly recommend this album by Powerplant, which features music by both.

Finally, I hear that a handful of tickets might be released nearer show time – so keep checking the MIF site if you don’t win.

Either Manchester International Festival is taking a liberal approach to announcing this year’s programme, or someone’s jumped the gun:

07-18-2009 20:00

MANCHESTER INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

Dave Haslam presents

And all they had to do was hold out until the press launch at Manchester Art Gallery on 19 March!

Anyway, this could be good… at least we know that Haslam is as pro-Manchester as you’ll get – unlike Rufus Wainwright, who’s having a good go at making Manchester feel well and truly second best. He’s not exactly talking up his opera-writing skills either, is he? And he’s not even sure that it won’t be a disaster.

July looks set to be a fun month!

Two events happening in the city later this month make me feel like (a bit) less of a geek…

The first Manchester Twestival takes place on Thursday 12 February at the Living Room on Deansgate. Yup, you guessed it – it’s an event dedicated to all things Twitter. It seems the site’s really starting to take off… between my accounts I’ve gained over 30 followers in the past two days, for example, and Mancubist’s Twitter now has 125.

The event, which is one of over 100 being held simultaneously worldwide, is a fund-raising concern – it’s sponsored by those clever people over at Code Computer Love and will feature a charity auction. All monies raised globally will go to charity:water, which brings safe drinking water to developing countries.

Manchester Twestival begins at 6.30pm. You should register your interest here and buy a ticket for £4 here. And, of course, follow the festival’s MancTwester here.

The second event is on Friday 27 February. It’s called Speak to the Geek and, again, it’s a charity event. This time, a few self-proclaimed ‘internet techie experts’ are donating their knowledge and time to help non-profit organisations in the North West. Here’s how organiser Guy Dickinson explained it to me:

Basically, as a bunch of geeks, we’re trying to get our skills used into the community, and thought running a panel of internet strategy ‘micro consultancies’ for decision-makers in the non-profit sector would be a good start.

It takes place from 2pm until 4pm at the Manchester Digital Development Agency on Portland Street. Check out the Speak to the Geek blog for more information and to sign up.

Later this month, two of the city’s most established live music nights – Blowout and Friends of Mine – are coming together for Friends of Manchester, a one-day event (inevitably deemed a ‘festival’ – this is Manchester after all).

This ‘12-hour music marathon’ takes place on Saturday 24 January at Jabez Clegg, just off Oxford Road, and – due to strong demand – Kro Bar next door, which is hosting a winter barbecue. I count about 50 bands confirmed so far – including personal recommendations the Longcut, its a buffalo, Ten Bears, Gideon Conn, Jo D of the Travelling Band and Islands Lost at Sea.

Tickets are £9 in advance from www.ticketline.co.uk, Piccadilly Box Office in Zavvi and on 0161 832 1111 – or, until Sunday evening, you can get a £7 early bird ticket here. There’ll also be some available from both venues, plus the Thirsty Scholar and Joshua Brooks.

Friends of Manchester is sponsored by Ben Sherman – but don’t let that put you off.