THIS YEAR’S Bury St Edmunds Festival programme has been revealed.

The festival will run from Thursday, May 16, to Sunday, May 19, offering an intense burst of world-class performances at venues throughout the town including the award-winning Apex.

Organisers are trialling a ‘smaller but perfectly formed’ festival distilling the best of classical and contemporary music plus dance, film, art, walks and much more over four days.

A packed programme of more than 30 events from morning coffee concerts to late night ghost walks and recitals means followers will have plenty of great entertainment to choose from including the return of many festival favourites.

Festival manager Nick Wells said: “This year’s festival is shorter than usual but rest assured that the programme is still packed with a wide variety of renowned musicians, films, walks and exhibitions; a great opportunity to immerse yourself in an intense burst of arts activity.

“We’ve tried to cram in all the elements of the Bury Festival that have been so popular over the years and we are looking forward to using the coming months to think about how the festival should develop in the future; please do let us have your thoughts too.”

The 2013 festival brochure is widely available or can be viewed online at www.buryfestival.co.uk

Keep up to speed with all the latest news by following the festival on Twitter @buryfestival and give your views by emailing festivalfeedback@stedsbc.gov.uk

Tickets for all festival events go on sale to the general public from March 4 at the Festival Box Office in the Apex, Charter Square, Bury St Edmunds. They can be booked online at www.buryfestival.co.uk, by calling 01284 758000 or email bookings@theapex.co.uk

Festival highlights include:

•Soprano Lesley Garrett and clarinettist Emma Johnson perform well-known songs and classical melodies together for the first time supported by pianist Andrew West;

•The Aurora Orchestra joins forces with dancers from BBoy’s Attic and Company Decalage to perform a ‘Battle’ themed playlist including works by Holst and Shostakovich;

•Britten’s centenary is marked by Matthew Barley playing the composer’s third suite for cello, and the Tallis Scholars return to celebrate their 40th anniversary;

•Sierra Maestra, the stars of Cuban music, are back with their infectious rhythms, and jazz Stacey Kent also returns to the Festival for her first appearance at the apex and a sneak preview of her new album;

•Actor Timothy West with Pavao String Quartet explores Janacek’s passionate illicit love affair that resulted in ‘Intimate Letters’ - one of the finest string quartets of the 20th Century;

•Coffee concerts at the Apex feature Australian pianist Jayson Gillham, a finalist at the 2012 Leeds International Piano Competition, and award-winning musicians from the Royal Academy of Music come together to perform Mendelssohn’s Octet;

•Retorica make their festival debut with rarely heard repertoire for two violins, while rising star trumpeter Chris Parsons plays early music accompanied by the Cathedral Chamber Organ;

•Ramble with the Romantics is the successor to the popular Sonnet Walks series and promises poetic surprises in hidden corners of historic Bury St Edmunds - inspired by Keats, Wordsworth, Blake and Coleridge;

•A spooky late-night Ghost Walk visiting the Great Churchyard is one of a series of new themed walks exploring Bury St Edmunds including Architects & Builders and Bury Businesses;

•Another Greene King Real Beer and Food Festival showcases delicious local produce and local bands, and the Picturehouse hosts four festival films on the theme of Putting on a Show;

•The festival maintains its party atmosphere with a great Michael Jackson show in the Abbey Gardens, which also hosts an evening celebrating a host of talented local young musicians as well as free fun and entertainment with Street Theatre and Bury Busk;

•Bury Bach Choir will be joining forces with the Nayland Choir, four top-class soloists and the Prometheus Orchestra to perform the large-scale Verdi Requiem in the cathedral, and talented local musicians will also feature at the Bury Songwriting Final and a free Sunday lunchtime set from West Suffolk Youth Jazz Orchestra;

•Saxophonist Simon Spillett explores the life and music of jazz great Tubby Hayes, while Christine Tobin sings her salute to the legendary Leonard Cohen at the Hunter Club.