INTERNATIONALLY-renowned musicians will be heading to the Ribble Valley over the coming months for a series of concerts which will delight classical music lovers.

The full programme for Clitheroe Concerts, which has organised six events at the lecture theatre at Clitheroe Royal Grammar School, has been announced.

Clitheroe Concerts, formerly known as Clitheroe Concerts Society, will be celebrating it 67th season.

Secretary and concert organiser Ken Geddes work on putting the programme together began well over 12 months ago.

“Because many of the artists are so busy you have to move very quickly sometimes to get a date in their calendar,” he said. “I think that Clitheroe Concerts has got a good reputation for the way was look after artists and that has certainly helped us when it comes to securing bookings.

“The classical world is a surprisingly small one and not as competitive as you might expect. The artists do take a lot of interest in what each other is doing and where they have played.”

Ken explained the reasoning behind the change of name to Clitheroe Concerts.

“I think that by previously having society in the title it was off-putting to a lot of people who may have thought they had to join something to come along to the concerts,” he said. “That’s not the case. Everyone is welcome and and we will be very pleased to see them. We want to introduce as many people as possible to the delights of classical music and we do find that even for people who think it’s not for them, once they see these quality performers playing live, they love it.”

This year’s concert season gets underway on Wednesday, October 17 with a performance by the Trio Shaham Erez Wallfisch, widely regarded as one of the world’s leading piano trios.

Then on Friday, November 9 the Engegard String Quartet will be in Clitheroe.

In December, it will be the turn of the Gitarrissima Quartet of Vienna to perform with the Ribble Valley-based Stonebridge String Quartet lined up for February.

Pianist Martin Roscoe, the vice president of Clitheroe Concerts, will give a recital in March with the season rounding off with the Chaplina Kalnitts Duo in April.

Clitheroe Concerts will also be holding a summer concert in the council suite of Ribble Valley Council in June when the Borealis Saxophone Quartet will be the special guests.

For full details of all the concerts and to buy tickets visit www.clitheroeconcerts.org. Tickets are also available from the Platform Gallery in Clitheroe. For information about or becoming a member of Clitheroe Concerts, contact membership secretary Ann Robinson on 01254 680588 or email ccsmembership@btinternet.com