A WHOLE host of international names are set to perform at this year’s Chipping Campden International Music Festival.

The festival, which runs from Sunday, May 5, to Saturday, May 18, in St James’s Church, attracts visitors from as far as the USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia along with its loyal following in the UK.

Artists performing this year include Paul Lewis, Mark Padmore, Elisabeth Leonskaja, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The Britten Sinfonia, IFagiolini, the Takacs Quartet, Steven Osborne, the Atos Piano Trio, and Jack Liebeck.

Booking forms have been flooding in since last November and the reserved seating for some concerts was sold out on the first day bookings opened last month.

Paul Lewis, festival president said: “It’s wonderful to see how far the festival has come since it began back in 2002.

“Eleven years on we have a festival that offers a programme of astonishing range and depth, with a line up of some of the world’s most exciting musicians.

“While the festival continues to evolve, the one thing that remains constant, thankfully, is its venue.

“The sound in St James’s Church is something very special, and plays an essential part in marking this festival out as something unique.”

For the sixth year running the festival’s own academy training orchestra will be formed under director Thomas Hull.

Running alongside the Academy Orchestra project, there will be a series of weekday lunchtime recitals given from advanced students or recent graduates from the leading UK colleges.

Booking forms can be downloaded from campdenmusicfestival.co.uk.