The 2017 Rye Arts Festival comes to its conclusion this weekend after a busy fortnight but the good news is that there are still tickets left for some fabulous events.
On Friday September 29 the Festival is thrilled to welcome the fabulous, the one and only, The Mountain Fireworks Company. The five-piece acoustic band from Brighton was a big hit with the audience at the 2015 Rye Arts Festival, selling record number of CDs after the gig, and The Fireworks promise to light up the Rye night once again with an 8pm start to the show!
The band doesn’t pigeon-hole into one category of musical style and influence. They are have been categorised as folk/alt country pop… by themselves! They have also been described as “gorgeous with equal parts darkness and cheeky humour” and “alternative bluegrass with a dark treacle folk centre”. This gig promises to be a sell-out at Rye Community Centre, but a handful of tickets are still available – grab them while you can!
And on Saturday 30th Ari Eisenger flies in from Pennsylvania to play the Rye Community Centre. Ari is reckoned to be one of the finest acoustic blues and ragtime guitar players on the planet. And he will be joined on stage by John Gregory (simply known throughout the Blues world as Blue John) and Mississippi John Hurt for what promises to be a night of classic Blues music to treasure and remember.
For the last six years the classical music programme has been built around live opera with the hugely talented young professional singers of Euphonia Studio providing the Festival with many memorable moments. And they’re back this year, under the artistic and musical direction of the hugely talented Alisdair Kitchen. On Saturday September 30 (starting at 6:30pm), they will perform La Boheme by Puccini, which is often described as the best opera to see if you have never been to an opera before!
Their first performance of the opera in Rye on Saturday September 23 bowled the audience over, with their tears of emotion breaking out into real sobs as the opera reaches its conclusion.
Rannveig Karadottir, the Icelandic soprano who starred in the 2014 production of La Traviata at Rye Arts Festival, plays Mimi with power and intense emotion! This is a chance to see the opera stars of the future at prices a fraction of what you would pay in London!
More information can be found and tickets purchased online at www.ryeartsfestival.co.uk or on the door to the events.
Photos: John Linton and courtesy Rye Arts Festival