Fressingfield gets set for festival

Bells will be ringing in Suffolk to celebrate the start of a village's fourth annual music festival which is set to attract some high profile local and international figures.

Bells will be ringing in Suffolk to celebrate the start of a village's fourth annual music festival which is set to attract some high profile local and international figures.

The four-day musical event at Fressingfield will be opened on Wednesday, September 24 by its new patron, the Right Rev Nigel Stock, Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich.

On the Friday, the High Commissioner of South Africa, Lindiwe Mabuza will be attending the concert of emerging opera super-star Siphiwo Nteshebe. The South African tenor will give the world premier of the nine song cycle 'Delicate Sparks' - the high commissioner's poetry set to music by composer and artistic director of the festival, Paul Caroll.

There will also be concerts by Paul Shelby, one of the foremost jazz trumpeters in the country, Christ's College Church Choir, and baroque chamber ensemble Badinage.

Proceeds are for the restoration of the St Peter and St Paul's church bells at Fressingield, and Suffolk County Councillor Guy McGregor will be presenting a cheque to the church during the event.

The music festival is supported by donations from The Leche Trust, the D'Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, Simon Gibson Charitable Trust, Suffolk County Council, Hoxne and Eye Localities Fund, and Tenon Financial Services (Windsor).

Further details of each night's concerts are available on www.onesuffolk.co.uk/fressingfield PC