A classical music festival is urging concert-goers to ‘think outside the box’ and sample something different.

The Stour Music Festival, in the village of Boughton Aluph, near Ashford, has suffered in the past from a myth that all its event sell out, which festival director Mark Deller says is not the case.

“Many people think, erroneously, that there is no point in trying to book tickets for Stour Music Festival because it is always sold out. In fact, that is rare,” said Mark. “Some of the most memorable Stour experiences have come from what I might describe as ‘the unknown’, so be adventurous.”

This year the festival is bringing over two European ensembles to the country for the first time – Societas Incognitorum from the Czech Republic and La Compagnia del Madrigale from Italy.

In addition the festival, which runs from Friday, June 20, to Sunday, June 29, will see returns by distinguished international harpsichordist and conductor Trevor Pinnock, baroque violinist Rachel Podger, Robert Hollingworth’s innovative ensemble I Fagiolini, and the well-established and popular Sacconi Quartet.

For the choral concert on the final Sunday afternoon, the Festival Choir will depart from its more traditional baroque repertoire to make forays into 20th-century music.

It will welcome Mark Padmore, one of the country’s leading tenors, as the soloist for a performance of Gerald Finzi’s setting of Wordsworth’s Intimations of Immortality, and Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music, with words from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.

Ten concerts in all will be held at All Saints Church at Boughton Aluph throughout the festival.

More details at www.stourmusic.org.uk