Guitarists John Etheridge and John Williams and cellist Natalie Clein are among the stars heading for this year's Petworth Festival.
This year's festival programme is the first under its new artistic director, the internationally-renowned double bass player Malcolm Creese, who took on the post in January.
Since his appointment, Malcolm has been keen to find out exactly what th
e festival means to people, particularly in the light of the problems the festival ran into under his predecessor, Peter Bolton.
This was a time which brought unpopular changes and sparked allegations the festival had become an elitist event for the few.
Malcolm will have his own particular plans for the festival, not the least of which will be a concerted effort to liaise with and involve young people much more directly as of next year.
But for the moment – with around two-thirds of the festival programme already in place before he arrived – Malcolm stresses his task is very much to look, listen and learn,
In seeking to reaffirm its broad appeal, Malcolm will be starting from a position of comparative strength – despite the recession.
Malcolm is also artistic director of the Swaledale Festival in Yorkshire which has been badly hit by gloomy economic times. Not so Petworth.
"The recession has not really impacted on us in terms of donations and sponsorship and funding," he said. "For some reason Petworth seems to be rather cushioned from that. We have not had to cut our artistic budget at all.
"We are very very fortunate that the people that have been generous in the past have been generous to us this year."
The festival will open on July 9 with a comparatively quiet first week before getting into its stride with a busier couple of weeks offering around 25 events – a number similar to previous years. The festival closes on August 2.
Malcolm, who has performed at Petworth on three occasions in the past, got the job simply by applying, he says – part of the new direction his work is taking after years as a freelance musician.
"I have played in festivals all of my life all over the world ever since I was a child. I have always enjoyed festivals and thought it would be interesting to be the person creating them.
"With a festival you can create a really good programme that affects so many people. Or as a musician you can sit in a studio and play three notes in a symphony orchestra and affect no-one!"
But that musical background now transfers very crucially and very comfortably to the task of programming. The point is that he is an artistic director.
"They wanted someone who is able to understand and be knowledgeable about different art forms. And secondly they wanted someone who has the contacts that a musician has."
