THERE is another stellar line-up for Ripon International Festival’s 22nd year starting starting next month.

The Spring Concert is on Friday, May 17, at Ripon Cathedral, when Janusz Piotrowicz conducts Royal Northern Sinfonia in a thrilling programme of great classics.

The concert opens with the haunting themes and blazing fanfares of Weber’s Der Freischutz, then the agility of the Strauss Horn Concerto, tension and high drama in Beethoven’s Leonore No 3 and Brahms’ magnificent 1st Symphony – a tornado of passion and sumptuous melody.

The soloist in the virtuosic Strauss concerto is Anna Douglass, winner, BBC Young Musician and the Dennis Brain Horn Prize, who is already in great demand as Principal from leading orchestras.

Janusz Piotrowicz is a visionary musician with a supreme gift for musical architecture. His performances are renowned for clarity, intensity, and melting tenderness. Such is the depth and richness of sound, he draws from the players, a chamber orchestra can sound like a full symphony orchestra.

A recent triumph was his concert at Cadogan Hall London with L’Orchestre du Monde – World Virtuosi, when he conducted Dvorak’s ‘New World’ Symphony to a wildly enthusiastic audience and

standing ovation.

Tickets are available from the festival office on 01765 605508 and Harrogate Theatre on 01423 502116, or online at www.riponinternationalfestival.com.

There is a Chopin Recital by Janusz at the Bowes Museum on Saturday, July 6. A prizewinner at the Warsaw International Chopin Competition, he has received the highest critical acclaim around the world for his qualities of poetry, sensitivity and insight into Chopin’s music.

Tickets are 01833 690606 and online at www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk.