A week-long festival of top-level classical music in the Cuckmere Valley, mostly taking place in ‘the Cathedral of the Downs’, Alfriston’s magnificent 14th-century St Andrew’s Church. Zahra Benyounes and Emily Holland have taken over as directors for this year’s programme which kicks off on Tuesday July 18 with the South Downs Festival Orchestra and Thomas Hancox on flute. Performances over the followng days include the Treske Quartet and ‘ELÉGIE Rachmaninoff – A Heart in Exile’, the story of Sergei Rachmaninoff narrated by Robert Gelnister with Lucy Parham on piano.