RIPON International Festival will celebrate spring with a concert by the Northern Sinfonia at Ripon Cathedral on Saturday, May 8, conducted by Janusz Piotrowicz, who is renowned for bringing excitement to his performances of great classics and romantics.

The concert opens with excerpts from Mendelssohn’s captivating incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, followed by Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto, in which the soloist is the brilliant young Huw Morgan, who, at 22, is already one of Britain’s leading musical talents, winning many awards such as Brass Winner, BBC Young Musician of the Year 2006 and Outstanding Brass Player at the Royal Overseas League competition 2010.

The main work in the programme is Schubert’s powerful and expressive Ninth Symphony known as “The Great”, which contains many beautiful woodwind solos and whose finale is one of the most astonishing feats of sustained energy ever achieved in music – a gripping climax to the evening.

Tickets cost £23, £19, £15, £10; also available is a reception, premium concert ticket and supper at £50.

The main festival programme, which runs from September 5-23, will feature the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Ripon Cathedral); the Fron Male Voice Choir – Voices of the Valley (Royal Hall); John Williams and John Etheridge; Stile Antico; Eclipse in “Spanish Spice”; the Carnival Band (Maddy Prior’s support band); Pantagruel Renaissance Musicke (Markenfield Hall); Souza Winds; Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers; An Act of Piracy – dramatic song and poetry recital in costume (Masham); and literary celebrities and other events. The brochure will be available in June.

To book tickets to the spring concert, call 01765-603994 or 605508 or log on to riponin ternationalfestival.com.