THE line-up has been announced for a prestigious arts festival hailed as one of the leading events in East Anglia's cultural calendar.With over 70 events organised for this year's 17-day extravaganza in Bury St Edmunds, organisers are hoping to draw bigger crowds than ever as the celebration of music, art, dance and theatre enters its 19th year.

THE line-up has been announced for a prestigious arts festival hailed as one of the leading events in East Anglia's cultural calendar.

With over 70 events organised for this year's 17-day extravaganza in Bury St Edmunds, organisers are hoping to draw bigger crowds than ever as the celebration of music, art, dance and theatre enters its 19th year.

Highlights of the festival include a performance from the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, who will play in the town for the first time, alongside the Band of the Coldstream Guards and a world premiere from composer Sir Richard Rodney Bennett.

Singer Jacqui Dankworth, whose style merges jazz with pop, will also take to the stage during May's event, while it is hoped the Grimethorpe Colliery Band will raise the roof with champion jazz.

Laughs will be provided by James Campbell, a children's comedian who has performed at the world famous Edinburgh Festival, while 4 Poofs and a Piano, the regular house band on BBC1's Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, will also feature.

The festival, which is managed by St Edmundsbury Borough Council, has been organised by Nick Wells, who moved to Bury in 2001 after running the Norfolk and Norwich Festival.

Since taking charge of the event, he has vowed to increase diversity by adding to the list of international performers featured.

And Mr Wells is hoping this year's event will prove no exception, attracting audiences from around the region to enjoy top quality entertainment.

Popular act the Dubliners will return to headline the event's most popular firework finale, with two tribute nights - allowing partygoers the chance to dance the night away to the sounds of Abba, the Bee Gees, Madness and Queen - also organised for the famous Abbey Gardens.

And as well as the usual concerts, talks and themed walks will also take place, final details of which have yet to be released.

Brochures for the festival will be available from late February, and can be ordered through the event's website at www.buryfestival.co.uk or by telephoning 01284 757099.

Tickets for the open-air concerts in the Abbey Gardens will be on sale from February 16 from the box office on 01284 769505, while tickets for the other events will be available from March 8.