Great weekend coming up for Ripon International Festival as this year's events get into full swing

Ripon International Festival co-founder Janusz Piotrowicz is once again taking a key role as conductor and pianist in this year's feast of the arts.

The 24th Ripon International Festival will get into the swing of things this weekend with a glittering event at Harrogate's Royal Hall with the Orchestra of Opera North.

Performing Mozart's Marriage of Figaro Dvorak: Cello Concerto and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 Pathetique, the concert on Saturday is being conducted by the indomitable Janusz Piotrowicz.

The latter, a prize-winning international pianist, was responsible for co-founding the festival in 1997 along with Susan Goldsbrough, a classical music promoter.

Since then this perfect partnership has steered Ripon International Festival with a steady hand, bringing the likes of the Hallé, Royal Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Northern Sinfonia, London Mozart Players and more to perform at Ripon Cathdedral.

The cathedral, dating from the 13th Century, is not the festival’s only venue but it is its focal point, providing a magnificent setting for orchestral and choral concerts of iconic works conducted by Piotrowicz.

But this winning team's flair for top of the range events extends beyond classic music into , jazz, literary, theatrical and, occasionally, sheer fun.

The programme for this year's festival, which runs until October 9, continues over weekends and includes the following:

Morgan Szymanski, former Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) artist, now resident in Mexico, playing classical guitar.

The Black Dyke Band.

The Passacaglia Baroque Trio.

A recital by Janusz Piotrowicz of Chopin and Rachmaninov.

An evening of jazz with The After Hours Quintet.

An evening of bluegrass music with The Often Heard.

Love etc, an evening of music and comedy with the London Revue Company.

Box Tale Soup Theatre presents an enchanting production of Wind in the Willows.

An event with nature writer Jonathan Tulloch.

For tickets call Ripon Box Office 01765 605508 or visit in person at the office at Holly Howe, Copt Hewick, open daily 8am-8pm.

For online bookings, visit www.riponinternationalfestival.org or www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk

There will also be an additional festival event on Wednesday, November 16 at 7pm.

Queens of the Age of Chivalry: England’s queens of the 14th Century will feature Alison Weir, the bestselling female historian in the UK who has sold more than three million books world-wide.