NEW works inspired by Richard III will form the centrepiece of a weekend music festival in North Yorkshire next month.

The event is a first for the area and will see concerts and recitals taking place in Middleham, Aysgarth and Thornton Steward from September 11-13 as part of the English Music Festival's UK and European concert series.

EMF was set up by Em Marshall-Luck to give a platform to works by British composers of the late 19th and early to mid-20th century whose music, with a few popular exceptions, had fallen from favour. The main festival takes place each year in Oxfordshire.

"A few years ago I expanded it into having a UK and European concert series as I wanted to take the music more widely to other places and to new audiences," said Ms Marshall-Luck.

Concert series in France and Germany, rural Dorset and London were followed two years ago by a weekend autumn festival in the Cotswolds. Last year, while on holiday in the Yorkshire Dales, she had the idea of holding one in this region.

"I came up in January to look for suitable venues and driving round looking at churches, it suddenly hit me that Middleham would be perfect. When I visited Aysgarth that seemed fantastic for recitals with piano, and likewise I fell in love with Thornton Steward church, which is so peaceful and has such a wonderful atmosphere and acoustic. The idea of a church with no electricity at all, lit by gas lamps, appealed greatly," she said.

The Richard III concert on the Saturday evening in Aysgarth church will be the focal point offering four world premieres of exciting and accessible new music performed by the founder-director's violinist husband, Rupert Marshall-Luck.

The weekend also includes a song recital, an organ recital entitled By Dale, Moor and Minster, based around works and composers with Yorkshire connections, a performance by the young and dynamic Yorkshire-based choral group, Albion, singing folk and traditional songs, and a solo violin recital.

"It was while holding meeting with the vicar at Middleham in the church that it struck me we could do a whole concert of new music written specifically about Richard III for this occasion," said Ms Marshall-Luck.

"Middleham the town and the church are, of course, tied up with Richard III, but I was also impressed by the acoustic of the church which I thought would work well for the rather haunting sound of the solo violin.

"All the composers involved write in a very accessible manner, yet their music is far from pastiche. It's very dramatic and exciting, energetic and innovative, while remaining beautiful and tonal, which is precisely the sound-world I wanted for this. The works are all different, all taking different aspects of Richard III, yet complement each other well."

The composers are Paul Lewis, Richard Pantcheff, Paul Carr and Francis Pott. A work with a Richard III connection already written and recorded by composer Lionel Sainsbury will also be performed.

Ms Marshall-Luck, who lives in Dorset, has worked with all the composers before in the EMF and for recordings made through her associated record label, EM Records.

"I would dearly like this to become a regular event and hope we will attract good audiences, especially from the local area. The main festival attracts audiences from as far afield as America and Australia so we may have some who have travelled far, too.

"We also hope to have a number of Richard III fans present, given the importance of an entire concert of world premieres of works written about him."

The Richard III pieces will be recorded on a new EM Records disc in 2016 for release in 2017.

Opening night is a violin and piano recital including the Elgar Violin Sonata and works by Elgar, Parry, Holst and Bliss, some of which the festival has been instrumental in resurrecting.

Another solo violin recital will feature virtuosic works by Elgar and Donald Tovey, alongside J S Bach, and the song recital will included much-loved song-cycles by Vaughan WIlliams, Finzi and Butterworth.

At 2.15pm on Saturday, September 12, there will be a composer panel discussion on the Richard III commissions in Middleham Church. Tickets cost £5. Tickets for evening concerts cost £15. Prices vary for afternoon recitals.

For more information and a booking form, contact Em Marshall-Luck at The Red House, Lanchards Lane, Shillingstone, Dorset DT11 0QU, telephone 07808 473889 or email em.marshall-luck@englishmusicfestival.org.uk.