Tickets due to go on sale forthis year’s Rye Arts Festival

Online and postal booking will be available from Monday July 28.

This year’s Rye Arts Festival runs from 12th to 28th September 2014 and offers 60 events covering classical, jazz, folk, country and Irish music; literary talks and historical walks; theatre and dance; comedy; fine art, ceramic and photographic exhibitions as well as a fashion show.

The Festival opens with a fully-staged opera with the young professional singers and musicians of Euphonia coming down from London for a one-off performance of la Traviata, with the set and costumes designed and made by the students of Rye Studio School.

It ends with the world-class baroque orchestra The English Concert.

In between, the classical music programme features the Piatti as the quartet in residence providing a series of concerts, masterclasses and open rehearsals as well as a free gig in a the Queens Head in Landgate.

Other highlights include the singing talents of Voces8 and the welcome return of pianist Nikolai Demidenko.

Alan Skidmore and Peter King bring jazz to the Festival; recent Radio 2 Folk Award winning duo Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin provide folk tinged with blues and reggae; while Dervish return from Sligo to provide some of the finest Irish music around.

West Weston and the Bluesonics will be doing what it says on the tin – electric blues while Flossie Malavialle will be singing Edith Piaf and Jaques Brel.

There are Flamenco and Argentine Tango workshops for people to join in if they wish, as well as performances by pros in both dance disciplines.

Literary talks include novelists Jane Gardam and Robyn Young, as well as Peter Snow talking about how the British torched the White House 200 years ago.

Humour comes in the form of Henry Blofeld and Gyles Brandreth, who brings his five-star sell-out show from the Edinburgh Fringe.

The Box Office for in-person bookings opens at Phillips and Stubbs in Cinque Ports St, Rye on 11th August from 9.30am to 1pm on Mondays to Saturdays until the end of the Festival. For more information, including downloadable application forms, go to www.ryeartsfestival.co.uk.