The most exciting three weeks of the cultural year in the city are about to get under way with the start of the Chester Summer Music Festival.
In this Your Time special report, we present a full list of the events heading our way between July 17 and August 7 at the festival's first ever Pop in the Park event.
SATURDAY, JULY 17 8pm: WEB - Strings & Keys at Chester Cathedral - featuring John Williams (guitar), John Etheridge (guitar) and Patrick Bebey (sanza and keyboards). Tickets £22-£10.
SUNDAY, JULY 18 11.30am-5pm: Sunday in the Park at Grosvenor Park - a day of live entertainment and music featuring the best young acts from the area including Problem Box, Haylea's Comet, Charlotte Oram, The Meddler, Chew The Roots, Luos Johnson, Antigua Joe, Karamba Samba and more. Admission free.
3.30pm: Festival Evensong at Chester Cathedral - featuring the Chester Cathedral Choir, organist Philip Rushforth and David Poulter (organist and director of music). Admission free.
MONDAY, JULY 19 7.30pm: Composer portrait - James MacMillan at Grosvenor Museum - festival director Andrew Burn gives an introduction to the music of this year's featured composer. Tickets £3.
TUESDAY, JULY 20 1pm: Tom Poster (piano) at St Mary's Centre - Concerto finalist in the 2000 BBC Young Musician of the Year plays music by Scarlatti, Stravinsky, MacMillan, Poster and Beethoven. Tickets £7.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 21 1pm: Celtic Celebration at St John's Church - Early music group Da Camera explore the wealth of music to come out of Ireland and Scotland in the 17th and 18th centuries, including music by Oswald, Playford, Eccles and Byrd. Tickets £7.
7.30pm: Spring Symphony at Chester Cathedral - Chester Festival Chorus, Manchester Boys Choir, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, soloists Elizabeth Donovan (soprano), Anna Burford (mezzo soprano), Peter Hoare (tenor), Matthew Rose (bass) and David Hill (conductor) present music by Dvorák, Suk, Smetana and Britten. Tickets £28-£12.
THURSDAY, JULY 22 1pm: Catherine Ennis (organ) at Chester Cathedral - organist of St Lawrence Jewry in the City of London, plays music by MacMillan, Corelli, Smetana, Willan and Dvorák.
8pm: Doric String Quartet at the Town Hall - performing music by Dvorák, Webern, MacMillan and Beethoven. Tickets £12, £10.
