WITH a wide selection of talented musicians and singers, this year s Thaxted Festival promises to be the most exciting yet. Beautiful music will fill Thaxted Church across four weekends featuring performances from renowned organists, world-class choirs an

WITH a wide selection of talented musicians and singers, this year's Thaxted Festival promises to be the most exciting yet.

Beautiful music will fill Thaxted Church across four weekends featuring performances from renowned organists, world-class choirs and outstanding orchestras.

The ticket office in Clarance House, Thaxted, is open from 9.30am to 12.30pm from Monday to Friday and on Saturday mornings during the Festival. Tickets are also available from the Saffron Walden Tourist Information Centre on the Market Square.

The programme for the 2009 festival is as follows:

Weekend one

Friday June 19: Southbank Sinfonia, 8pm, �13/�25

Saturday June 20: Adrian Thompson, 7pm, �10/�19

Sunday June 21: Festival Mass, 10.30am, free

Sunday June 21: Opus Anglicanum, 7.30pm, �7/�15

Weekend two

Friday June 26: Piano Trio, 8pm, �12/�24

Saturday June 27: Sir Philip Ledger, noon, �8/�10

Saturday June 27: Opera a la Carte, 6.30pm, �39/�45

Sunday June 28: English Sinfonia, 7.30pm, �13/�25

Weekend three

Friday July 3: Pascal and Ami Roge, 8pm, �12/�24

Saturday July 4: Family Concert, 11am, free/�6

Saturday July 4: Benny Goodman's Carnegie Hall Concert of 1938, 8pm, �12/�24

Sunday July 5: Cantate choir, 7.30pm, �12/�25

Weekend four

Friday July 10: Alberni Quartet, 8pm, �8/�16

Saturday July 11: Frieder Berthold, noon, �8/�10

Saturday July 11: Gwilym Simcock Trio, 8pm, �8/�16

Sunday July 12: Harlow Chorus and Brandenburg Sinfonia, 7.30pm, �13/�26

The Thaxted Festival was started by composer Gustav Holst who first came to the village in 1913 and moved to a cottage in Monk Street the following year where he worked on The Planets. He started the first festival at Whitsun in 1916.

The modern Festival was started by the late Michael Snow in 1980 and the present pattern of four summer weekends dates from 1987 soon after the establishment, by Philip and Marijke Curtis, of the Thaxted Festival Foundation. This is a registered charity and the Festival is run entirely by volunteers.

For more information visit www.thaxtedfestival.org.uk. They can be contacted by calling 01371 831421 or emailing thaxtedfestival@btconnect.com