RYEDALE Festival's two weeks of music starts today offering a star line-up of leading performers, a new discount offer to encourage more under-25s to boost audiences and a first visit to Thirsk.

Established and emerging performers from all over the world will appear in the wide-ranging programme at venues including Castle Howard, Duncombe Park, Hovingham Hall and Sledmere House, village churches and at Helmsley Arts Centre and the Galtres Centre in Easingwold, near Thirsk.

The 51 events in 32 locations include performances by Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Orchestra of Opera North and the Dunedin Consort, big band jazz from the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and world-class soloists such as pianist Benjamin Grosvenor and clarinettist Joseph Shiner.

Other performers include the Doric and Heath and Fitzwilliam string quartets and leading choirs Ex Cathedra and Stile Antico.

Ryedale Festival visits Thirsk for the first time with a performance of great choral works, including Barber’s own choral arrangement of his famous Adagio for Strings, in St Mary’s Church (August 1, 11pm) by the unaccompanied voices of the X24, a choir made up of recent graduates and talented singers from the University of York.

In a late night concert tomorrow, the Phoenix Piano Trio takes the festival's Austro-Hungarian theme to the Church of St John and All Saints in Easingwold. The programme includes Haydn’s so-called Gypsy Rondo and the young Brahms’s Piano Trio no. 1 in B major.

There is also a strings workshop in Easingwold (2pm) for young and amateur players from local schools to benefit from the experience and advice of one leading cellist, Matthew Sharp, soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and London Philharmonic (10am).

There are literary events, Ways with Words, an exhibition by award winning iPhonographer Gerard Collett and free workshops for young and amateur musicians. The new Ryedale500 scheme offers tickets for £3 to under 25s.

Festival director Christopher Glynn said: "I’m very excited about this year’s programme. Encompassing performances by the brilliant Heath and Doric Quartets, the unique atmosphere of Rachmaninov’s Vespers at Ampleforth, a special Bach evening, the fun of Lehar’s Merry Widow and a party atmosphere for our Brahms and the Gypsy evening in Malton’s Milton Rooms, I hope it will offer something for all tastes."

Others appearing in the festival include Sir Thomas Allen (baritone), Benjamin Grosvenor (piano), Sarah Tynan (soprano), Charlotte Barbour-Condini (recorder), Martin Bell (ex-MP), Dame Fanny Waterman (in conversation), Michael Berkeley and tenor Toby Spence.