THE three elegant Japanese sisters of the Fujita Piano Trio get the new Kendal Midday Concert Club season off to a superb start.

Violinist, Arisa Fujita, and her talented siblings, cellist, Honoka, and pianist, Megumi, open the club's series of alternate Wednesday lunchtime concerts at Kendal Town Hall on October 5.

The prizewinning sisters have been playing chamber music together since early childhood and made a highly acclaimed debut at the Wigmore Hall in 1999. Since, they have played far and wide across the UK and performed in Canada, France, Italy, Ireland, Romania, Egypt, Morocco and Turkey.

They previously performed for the Kendal club's discerning audience in 2004, 2010 and 2012, and on each occasion played with supreme confidence and commitment.

Arisa studied with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music where she now teaches. Honoko also studied at the Guildhall (where the trio received coaching from the Takacs String Quartet) and later with Jennifer Ward Clarke and Raphael Wallfisch. Megumi studied at the Menuhin School with Louis Kentner and Vlado Perlmuter and later continued her studies at the Royal College of Music with Irina Zaritskaya.

Following on from the Fujitas, is the familiar face of acclaimed clarinettist Robert Plane, who pops up with the award-winning Sacconi Quartet for the next concert of the fortnightly series of Wednesday lunchtime concerts on October 19.

A successful recording artist, Robert has enjoyed a career encompassing solo and chamber work, as well as holding the principal clarinet positions of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Northern Sinfonia and, currently, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The Sacconi Quartet is well-known for its creativity and integrity of interpretation. Formed in 2001, its four founder members demonstrate a shared passion for the string quartet repertoire, infectiously reaching out to audiences with their energy and enthusiasm.

As far as young, dynamic, early music vocal ensembles go, they don't come much better than the internationally-renowned, Marian Consort, who play Kendal Town Hall on November 2.

Highly regarded pianist Mark Bebbington appears on November 16, the distinguished Fibonacci Sequence on November 30, and the Deco Ensemble, conclude the 2016 half of fortnightly concerts on December 14. Described as an exceptional ensemble of the highest calibre, the Deco quintet's (piano, bass, accordion, guitar and violin) adventurous programming and virtuoso performances display extraordinary breadth and creativity.

And so to 2017, and who better to see in the New Year on January 11 than the Royal Northern Sinfonia Ensemble. Musical royalty indeed, the RNS has built a distinctive reputation as a fresh-thinking and versatile orchestra.

On January 25, Concerto Cristofori presents folksong settings from the Thomson collection of Haydn songs published in 1802, plus a selection of Beethoven songs; Scottish favourites to mark the birth of Robert Burns the same day in 1759. Formed in 2001, the group is named after Bartolomeo Cristofori, who invented the fortepiano.

Another of the season's highlights promises to be a performance by one of the UK’s most gifted pianists Anthony Hewitt, who has enjoyed a prolific performing career spanning two decades. Anthony - who appears on February 8 - is director of Ulverston Music Festival, and has made concerto appearances with the National Symphony Orchestra in the USA and the English Chamber Orchestra in the Royal Festival Hall.

The prestigious pairing of violinist, Gina McCormack, and pianist, Nigel Clayton, is a fabulous feature on February 22, the flamboyant, theatrical and virtuosic foursome of Red Priest blaze a trail of brilliant Baroque to Kendal Town Hall on March 8, and the prizewinning Zelkova Quartet brings the curtain down on the 2016/17 series on March 22.

Concerts start at 1pm. Snack lunches are available from 11.50am.