The Isle of Arts Festival returns to Ventnor for its fourth visit in May and this year is spread over four days.
We’ve been busy adding all the individual events to our listings site and have been amazed at the range and diversity of events on offer.
You can see the first three day’s events on Events OnTheWight, with Monday’s listings following tomorrow.
Opening the festival
A diverse range of music has been programmed to open the Festival.
How about some folk music from Island band The Dollymopps to kick off the Friday’s events, followed by a mini-folk festival for the rest of the evening, curated by the Island’s queen of folk, Becky Haydock?
Or perhaps a concert of classical Nordic music is more your thing? Rudi Eastwood (no relation to the actor) has put together a programme of music that celebrates the talents of composers Edvard Grieg (Norway), Jean Sibelius (Finland), Heino Eller (Estonia) and Christian Sinding (Norway) and Tchaikovsky.
Headlining
Failing that, how about some quality jazz from Kyle Eastwood (yes, the eldest son of actor Clint Eastwood). At the forefront of the modern jazz, he’ll be joined by his long-time band, featuring pianist Andrew McCormack, saxophonist Graeme Blevins, trumpeter Quentin Collins, and drummer Martyn Kaine for an evening of contemporary jazz.
Spoken word
If you don’t fancy music, how about an evening with celebrity gardener, Monty Don?
He’ll be talking about his life and travels visiting gardens all over the world, what really happens behind the scenes when filming, about how he made his own organic garden from a bare field and more.
An evening of storytelling
Finally there’s a chance to gather round, get comfortable and experience some 100 year old tales, re-imagined for the modern world from Isle of Wight actor and story-teller Eltjo de Vries. He’ll be choosing from the 200 stories by the brothers Grimm at Ventnor Arts Club.
Whatever your taste, there’s bound to be something to take your fancy. Find out more by visiting the Isle of Arts Festival Website.
Our thanks to organisers of the Isle of Arts Festival for sponsoring this feature. Please support them, as they and other businesses taking paid promotion enables you to continue reading OnTheWight for free.
