LAKE District Summer Music is celebrating its 30th year and added a new player to its festival team.

Founded by artistic director Renna Kellaway in 1985, combining musical performance and training, the eminent international festival and academy has established an enviable reputation for attracting top musicians, students and visitors to the Lake District from across the world.

This year’s festival runs from August 2-16.

Meanwhile, LDSM has appointed Kim Sargeant to its management team.

Colin Reynolds, LDSM secretary added: “We welcome Kim as our interim general manager. We now have a platform to build into the future, to retain our vision, provide international music events and training for tomorrow’s great artists and continue to contribute significantly to Cumbria’s cultural riches.”

Kim is no stranger to LDSM and the region. A trustee for the last five years and a festival supporter since the late 1980s, he was a regular visitor to Ravenglass as a young child, when he became a life member of the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway Preservation Society.

In the summer of 1994 he stepped in as LDSM’s festival organiser.

Kim explained: “Having spent the last five years touring 25 countries as general manager of the European Union Youth Orchestra, I very much look forward to bringing an international perspective to this wonderful festival which has such a sense of local identity.”