At the weekend, a friend was telling me how he thought last year’s Manchester International Festival was an all-round disappointment. Without pausing, I jumped to its defence, listing all the events I enjoyed (The Pianist, Il Tempo del Postino, Manchester Dines, The Rehearsal, the Monkey opera…) and adding that, personally, I thought it was a big success. The reviews were generally favourable too – and an independent report declared that it exceeded expectations.

So how will the festival’s second coming in summer 2009 compare? If the first three commissions – announced last Thursday – are anything to go buy, the scope will be equally wide, with MIF again taking arts to the masses:

J S BACH/ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS – Zaha Hadid Architects create a unique environment within Manchester Art Gallery for Bach’s solo works for piano, violin and cello; sublime music in a sublime space. Soloists are Piotr Anderszewski (piano), Jean-Guihem Queyras (cello) and Alina Ibragimova (violin).

EVERYBODY LOVES A WINNER – A new theatrical experience created by acclaimed director Neil Bartlett with Simon Deacon and Struan Leslie. The Royal Exchange theatre becomes a Bingo hall, immediately familiar and strange. With added music, dancing and quite possibly a chance to win some cash…

PRIMA DONNA – Rufus Wainwright’s debut opera. A portrait of a fading opera singer; set in Paris and sung in French. Directed by Daniel Kramer, conducted by Pierre-Andre Valadé and designed by Antony McDonald. Soprano Janis Kelly takes the lead role, Madame.

The Wainwright opera was originally commissioned by New York’s Met Opera – but the partnership fell apart following his decision to write it in French and the company’s inability to schedule it during 2009. New York’s loss is clearly Manchester’s gain, and this promises to be one of MIF’s headline events.

It’s also great to see that the festival has ditched Ticketmaster and appointed The Lowry-based Quaytickets as its ticketing partner. All profits generated by Quaytickets go towards funding the venue, so at least those booking fees are staying in Greater Manchester this time round.

These three commissions are the first of 21, which will all premiere next summer. The rest of the programme will be announced in March 2009.

While Manchester’s long-established music conference In The City is booking Jarvis Cocker to talk about lyrics in popular song, down the road in Salford a new music event is adding its own finishing touches.

With the tagline ‘Music and Pies’, Un-convention is evidently a two-day, three-night conference with a difference: it’s designed to debate the future of DIY labels, self-releasing bands, promoters, agents, entrepreneurs, innovators… basically all aspects of independent music.

But, before all non-industry types log off, it’s also complemented by a showcase of bands, with familiar names such as Down The Tiny Steps, Stranger Son of WB, Denis Jones, Sophie’s Pigeons, John Stammers, Cats in Paris and Toolshed scheduled to appear during the evening showcases at the ever-excellent Sacred Trinity Church on Chapel Street.

The daytime programme includes panels devoted to independent labels, live music, getting exposure and innovation. These two seven-hour sessions – also at the church – will be broken up by acoustic showcases featuring the likes of Magic Arm.

Those involved – either in organising, chairing panels or just attending – include Radio 1’s Huw Stephens, Red Deer Club’s Duncan Sime, BBC Manchester’s Chris Long, Melodic Records’ David Cooper, Switchflicker/Club Brenda’s Jayne Compton, Club Fandango’s Matt Johnson… something of a who’s who of the city’s independent music scene.

At its most DIY and independent level, the music industry – in Manchester at least – is very friendly. But it’s great to see that some locals are thinking about more than just their next show or release. The event runs from Sunday until Tuesday evening and ticket prices vary, from £7 for an evening showcase to £25 for a full pass. Check out the Un-convention blog for more information.

I was just reading Mark Page’s excellent Manchester Photography blog and spotted OldSalford.co.uk, a new photo archive site.

It exists ‘to store memories and photographs of the past and present from Salford and the surrounding areas’ (Eccles, Worseley, Pendlebury, Swinton and Bolton) – including the one above, of Broughton Suspension Bridge, which was built in 1888 and lasted until 1914.

There are dozens of photos and captions already on the site but there’s also an appeal for more, and in particular those on the ‘most wanted’ list:

• Harry Ramsdens, off Regent Road – Now demolished
• Old NatWest Bank, Broad Street – Now Security Office
• Old Salford Crescent Police Station – Before boarding up
• Old Swinton Police Station – Now demolished
• Old Salford Market / Precinct
• Langworthy Road – before current upgrading
• Yates’s Swinton Precinct – before its closure

Contact them or post on their forum if you’ve got something to share or are looking for specific images.

So I’ve been to the Lowry this evening, to see the National Theatre’s production of Waves. It’s devised by Katie Mitchell and is based on Virginia Woolf’s novel The Waves – but it’s been given a very special treatment by the company. with the eight busy cast members acting, reading, soundtracking… and filming their performance, for simultaneous projection behind them.

It’s bewildering to watch – particularly the first half, when the dialogue is twice the speed of any other play I’ve seen and when you’re still getting used to the multimedia format. By the interval I’d just about caught up with the plot, and during the slower, shorter second half I finally felt on top of things.

Perhaps most impressive is the quality of the film – a combination of both the actors’ talent and discipline and that of the technical team up in the gallery (themselves well worthy of applause). The sound creativeness is also unlike anything I’ve witnessed before as every action’s noise is imitated and amplified by actors out of ’shot’.

I’m no theatre reviewer but I’d recommend catching it while you can – and I’m not the only one, with the flyer boasts five-star reviews in The Times, the Financial Times and Time Out. A Mancubist reader told me yesterday, ‘We weren’t quite sure if it was more clever than good or good than clever… or if one of those options was better than the other. We’re still talking about it.’ Sounds about right.

There are only three more performances of Waves at the Lowry: Friday at 8pm and Saturday at 3pm and 8pm. Tickets are £18-£22 (it’s worth paying the extra) – click here to book.

UPDATE: Here’s a promo video on YouTube, which gives a little bit more indication of what Waves involves.

I’m a big fan of Salford’s independent magazine, having originally spotted its existence way back in 2006 and followed its progress ever since.

Last year it was shortlisted for the prestigious Paul Foot Award for Campaigning Journalism and earlier this year it was named the north west’s Magazine of the Year at the inaugural How-Do Awards – not bad for a part-time concern.

Now it’s celebrating its second full year with a bumper issue number eight. This 100-page special revisits some of the magazine’s previous stories, plus there are fresh profiles on locally born and educated actors Robert Powell and Maxine Peake, as well as features on job prospects at MediaCity:UK and ‘day trips in Salford’. Now there’s a thought…

You can find a copy in several good places in Salford (The King’s Arms, for example) or you can guarantee receiving a copy by subscribing (£20 for six issues). They’ve also just introducted a digital subscription, offering PDF copies of four issues for just £6.