The Bury St Edmunds Festival will hit Suffolk with a bang in 2006. The event, which has become one of East Anglia’s best-loved arts events, has a fun-packed line-up of art, comedy, music and theatre. Festival manager Nick Wells is always looking for exciting new acts to combine with regular acts brought back by popular demand. “Every year is slightly different because of the nature of the artists that come,” says Nick. “I suppose the big change is the opening night of the festival this year. After the annual beating of the retreat on Angel Hill, we are going to the Abbey Gardens and there’s going to be a fantastic gig involving two or three hundred local people and also a great band called Mbawula with some really infectious South African inspired Jazz.”  | | Acclaimed guitarist, John Williams. |
The event, which brings acclaimed guitarist John Williams, organist Wayne Marshall and award-winning cellist Natalie Clein, will also include the first festival concert to be performed in the newly opened West Wing of Ickworth House with the Brodsky Quartet (13 May), plus a host of music premieres and composers’ anniversaries. “There’s the Simunye project which I was talking about at the launch and I Fagiolini who sing early English music mixing in with a South African choir so there’s this fantastic mix of cultures. The outdoor gigs in the Abbey Gardens are always absolutely brilliant, fantastic atmosphere and we have people like Toyah Wilcox coming this year. I could go on all night, but I’ll stop!”  | | Mbawula are included in the Bury line-up |
The event, in its 21st year, will also give space to a host of familiar favourites, including the Royal Academy of Music String Soloists, Prime Brass and The Brook Street Band. Meanwhile, the festival finale will include a big band with stars from the West End’s Rat Pack Confidential as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Junior and others. Local Councilor, Paul Farmer, spoke highly of the event, “It must be a wonderful thing for Bury economically, it brings so many people in, and they're not just going to festival concerts and performances, they're obviously going to the shops, going to the tourist attractions, some people stay in Bury especially for the festival coming from a long way away.” Find out more about the Bury St Edmunds Festival by following the link to their website on the right menu. It is also the first year for the Bury Fringe Festival which will take place in Ipswich between 5th - 14th May. The Fringe Festival is a community event organised by a small committee working with local venues and people. To find out more about the Bury Fringe event or to sign up to perform, click on the link to the right of the page. | 
