Welcome Back - the Famous Five!

Pianist Clare Hammond returns to Rye Arts Festival tonight at 7.30pm at Iden Church as part of the Odysseus Piano Trio. With violinist Sara Trickey and Gregor Riddell on cello, Clare will offer a programme including two of the major piano trio pieces - Dvorak's Dumky Piano Trio and Schubert's First Piano Trio in B flat major. Tickets can be bought on the door.

Clare performed last year at Rye Arts Festival in a concert with the Festival's Quartet in Residence - the Piatti Quartet - who were a huge success! And tomorrow, Thursday 24th Sept, the Piatti will be back at Rye Arts Festival!

Memories of Rye Arts Festival

Charlie Cobb, artist in residence at this year's Festival was snapped by Steve Pope making sketches at the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble concert on Sunday in St Mary's Church. Charlie will be holding an exhibition of his drawings and paintings made over the last two weeks in and around the Festival on Sunday 27th September between noon and 6pm. The work will be on display at Charlie's pop-up studio at 89 High St Rye in the shop that was formerly Sweet Memories of Rye. The work will be for sale so you too can pick up and keep some delightful memories of this year's Festival.

Altan - Donegal's Finest's one-off UK Gig in Rye

Today Altan are flying into Gatwick from Dublin to give a exclusive UK gig at Rye Arts Festival.

Tomorrow they're flying home! And with the rest of the year full of gigs in Belgium, Germany and Switzerland with a tour of Japan in December, Rye represents a rare chance to see one of Ireland's finest traditional bands.

To get a flavour, check:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFZ4FEztR2g

Festival Outreach Starts Today!

Rye Arts Festival is proud of the work it does behind the scenes providing a series of exclusive masterclasses and special performances for the students of Rye's schools. Today, Wednesday 9th September, Charlie Cobb - who is the Artists in Residence for the duration (11-27 Sept) of this year's Festival - is arriving in Rye and he is going straight away to the Rye Studio School to give an art masterclass for the students. Charlie painted all the paintings in the film Mr Turner and also worked on the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics, but during the Festival he will be working from a pop-up gallery/studio in the former Sweet Memories of Rye sweetshop in the High Street.

He will also be holding a couple of masterclasses for the public on 14th and 25th September at the School Creative Centre and Lamb House Garden respectively - tickets can be bought from online the website www.ryearstfestival.co.uk or at the Box Office or phone 01797 224442.

Pedal Powered Opera Singers on Way to Rye

Two opera singers are getting on their bikes to make their way from London to Rye tomorrow for the performance of Don Giovanni on Saturday 12th September!

Rannveig Karadottir and Peter Aisher are the vanguard of the singers, with the rest arriving for the final rehearsals which start in Rye on Wednesday. Rannveig plays Donna Anna and Peter is Don Ottavio in this year's production from the fantastic Euphonia Company, who have graced Rye Arts Festival with an opera for four of the last five years. Euphonia's opera productions are seen only at Rye, but for the first time this year there will be two performances of Don Giovanni, with the second show on Saturday 26th September.

All Steam Ahead for Festival Opening Parade

Rye Arts Festival opens at 11am on 11th September with a parade through town by the students of Rye College, Rye Studio School and Rye Primary.

Starting from Rye Train Station the parade will be themed as a train and will make tracks through Town to the Rye Museum in East Street where the official opening of the festival will take place. It will then be all steam ahead for the colourful and noisy parade to make its way back to the station where the students will disembark!

The 44th Rye Arts Festival will run though to 27 September with over 60 events set to take place in the packed fortnight!

Top Pianist Goes One Stage Further

Alexander Panfilov, who is playing at Rye Arts Festival on 16th September, was selected last night to go through to the semi-final of the 2015 Leeds International Piano Competition.

The Russian pianist has worked hard and faced a huge challenge to reach this far of  the triennial Leeds Competition with 79 pianists from around the World chosen to compete in the first round, selected from hundreds of applications! This was reduced to just over 30 for the second round and now 12 go through to the semis which take place over the next three days.

Piano Festival at Heart of Rye Arts Festival

Copyright Bernd Eberle

September is International Piano Month, and Rye Arts Festival has taken this to heart delivering a mini Piano Festival within the Festival! Angela Hewitt will be making her first ever performance at Rye Arts Festival (now in its 44th year), with a concert on the evening of Tuesday 15th September  at the lovely parish church of St Mary's in Rye.

The following day, 16th September, there will be a pair of concerts. At lunchtime, Maya Irgalina, a young pianist from Belarus, will be giving a recital in St Mary's - ideal for those who have popped into town for shopping and also workers since the the 1pm start means they can come during their lunch hour.

Don Giovanni - Opera Singers in Fighting Form

Rehearsals for the eagerly anticipated two performances of Don Giovanni at this year's Rye Arts Festival on Saturday 12 and Saturday 26 September are under way and going well - despite the picture suggesting a mass brawl between the sopranos and tenors! The cast are currently working hard, and having fun, at a Roman Catholic church in Greenwich, south east London, under musical director/conductor Alisdair Kitchen.

And a sneak preview suggests that the fabulous young professional singers in Euphonia will be providing a production that equals and may exceed last year's triumphal La Traviata! Tickets are still available for both performances.

Altan - Irish Band's Exclusive UK Gig at Rye

Altan, from Donegal, are one of the top Irish bands and on 19 September they are flying into the UK to play a one-off gig at Rye Arts Festival.
Don't miss out then  on the best irish music  you'll hear all year with a mixture of energetic jigs and reels and slower ballads to touch the heart and raise a tear!

The Rails - Award-Winning Folk Duo

2015 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Horizon Award for best new band of the previous 12 months went to The Rails, who will be playing at Rye Arts Festival on 12 September.
Kami Thompson is the daughter of Linda and Richard Thompson, so comes from UK folk royalty! Meanwhile her husband James Walbourne has played with the Pogues and Pretenders!