The Rye Arts Festival 2007 was blessed with great weather - 'festival weather' one might say - for the entire two weeks. The range of events was more diverse than ever. The opening concert given by the young musicians of the Aurora Orchestra set a high standard of musicianship. A few days later they were followed by world famous Menuhin, Graffin, Walfisch trio, and on the final day of the festival, Lucy Parham and the actors Martin Jarvis, and Joanna David told the poignant story of Robert and Clara Schumann and their great friend, Brahms through the sensational playing of Lucy and the emotional reading of the actors from letters and journals.

The Sally Pryce Trio, The Navarra Quarter and the baroque ensemble Red Priest all found perfect settings for their music in the churches of Iden, Playden and Winchelsea.

The Temperance Seven returned with their unique blend of comedy and Jazz and played to a packed house in the Thomas Peacocke Community College, which also hosted one of the best ever blues nights when the Oyster Band came to town. We were pleased to be able to arrange a workshop with some of the school students at Thomas Peacocke with the percussionists O Duo and next year we hope to work even more closely with the school. Rye was fortunate indeed to have the legendary bluesman Roy Book Binder playing one of his rare concerts on this side of the Atlantic. We were  proud to showcase the talents of young up and coming singer songwriter John Smith, and also to hear Shirley Collins' fascinating talk about her song collecting in the Deep South in the late fifties 

Literary events were 'stellar' this year with the participation of, amongst others, Louis de Bernieres, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Lady Antonia Fraser and Douglas Hurd, all of whom sold out, proving that Rye's bookish appetites remain as keen as ever. Anne Harvey spoke about adopted local writer Rumer Godden as part of a 'double bill' with The River, a film based on one of Godden's books.

The middle weekend was our 'Comedy Weekend'. Boothby Graffoe sold out the George, Morag McLaren brought a blend of comedy and opera to the Community Centre and Romany added a touch of magic - literally - to the streets of Rye as she performed close up magic for the locals, defying all attempts at explanation.

Two further events deserve mention; local actor Martin Wimbush wowed a packed audience at the Community Centre with his one man show on the Duke of Wellington, and the London Bulgarian Choir brought the exotic sounds of eastern Europe to St. Mary's Church in another unforgetable evening.

The Festival Committee would like to thank everyone who helped make 2007 such a memorable festival; the venues; the artists; the helpers; organisations such as The Friends of the Rye Art Gallery and the Benson Society who mounted their own fascinating events; the churches, the patrons and, of course, the audiences, whom we hope enjoyed themselves as much as we did.
It's a world class little festival and it's going to be great in 2008!
The festival Committee

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