This year's dates: Friday 6th to Sunday 15th July 2007
The updated website for seventh Frome Festival '07 will be published to co-incide with the launch of the programme brochure at the beginning of May '07.
The 2007 Frome Festival will feature more than 110 events over ten days, covering classical, jazz, film, literary, art and community events.
Tickets will be available from the 14 May at the Festival Box Office - Tel: 01373 455420
Post Festival Report 2006 & Thank You Message from Martin Bax, Festival Organiser.
Check out the Frome Festival 2006 Reviews.
The theme of Frome Festival 2006 was Celebrating Somerset.
As a community based Festival we were pleased to turn the spotlight on the wealth and variety of talent we have on our own doorstep.
One of the most exciting innovations this year was the involvement of the Somerset Youth Orchestra which was our orchestra in residence for our extremely popular and well-known summer school. In addition the Somerset Youth Concert Band performed at the opening concert.
We were also delighted to have the international pianist Peter Donohoe as our Artist in Residence. He performed two piano recitals and combined his talents with some of our local jazz heroes for a performance of Rhapsody in Blue. In addition he host ed two workshops, one with Helen Ottaway our Composer in Residence. Peter also linked in with our Celebration of Somerset theme as he performned with the Somerset Youth Orchestra in Liszt's Piano Concerto No.2.
As always the Festival was about much more than music. For example the Black Swan Exhibition of modern works inspired by traditional Somerset crafts and Somerset born Robert Organ's dramatic canvases, which were on display at Rook Lane Chapel.
Because of his strong Somerset connections we celebrated the 200th anniversary of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. We can even proudly boast a Brunel Station here in Frome. We held a unique series of workshops by Folk South West exploring his life and times through traditional music and Isambard's Kingdom, the story of Brunel's Bristol, at the Granary. Still on our Somerset theme we had local writer Robin Bush, best known from Channel 4's Time Team, giving a very entertaining talk about our county.
We strive to bring the best to Frome. We hope you caught our comedy line up with Paul Merton and Barry Cryer, jazz with Iain Ballamy and John Law, literature with Tony Benn and Miles Kington, folk with Rory McCleod and friends. We welcomed back the Festival club with its late-night partner the Fez Club. As always, there was something for everyone!
Oh! How could I forget Graham Bland's memorable observation: at the end of the final performance of the Sea Symphony, the Somerset County Youth Orchestra loaded themselves into a coach and set off to Leipzig where they were be joined by some members of the Chorus and then performed the same programme. Hey, presto! The Frome Festival on tour!
Now six years old the Festival is really starting to have an impact on our local life, and with its growing popularity ... we hope you enjoyed the Festival.
Martin Bax MBE, Festival Director
Frome Festival '07
