THE new Lakeland Sinfonia Concert Society series opens this weekend with an all American programme of music courtesy of the Royal Northern Sinfonia.

First in the spotlight at Kendal Leisure Centre's Westmorland Hall on Saturday, October 5, will be Aaron Copland’s joyous Appalachian Spring, which premiered in 1944 as a ballet, and was edited into an orchestral suite in 1945. Interestingly, when composing the work, Aaron was inspired by the American Shaker movement rather than the Appalachian mountains, and the spring referred to in the title is apparently a reference to a water source and not his local climate.

Samuel Barber's brilliant Adagio for Strings and his quirky Capricorn Concerto follow on. Completing Saturday's programme is the Second Violin Concerto of Philip Glass, the American Four Seasons, an affectionate tribute to Vivaldi, unusual for its use of a synthesiser within the body of strings and adding a modern touch to the music.

Conductor for the evening will be Karin Hendrickson, the associate artist at Sage Gateshead, assistant conductor of the Royal Northern Sinfonia and music director of the Young Sinfonia in association with RNS.

Soloists include one of the nation's finest orchestral and chamber musicians and RNS leading light, violinist, Kyra Humphreys, along with Steven Hudson, oboe; Richard Martin, trumpet and Amy Yule on flute.

The Royal Northern Sinfonia continues the popular LSCS series on Saturday, November 9, with its second of three performances, featuring violinist and conductor Julian Rachlin playing the beautiful second concerto of Prokofiev.

For the first of its two concerts in the series the Lakeland Sinfonia welcomes back a local favourite: internationally renowned pianist Martin Roscoe. On November 30, Ulverston-based Martin plays the much-loved Grieg concerto and, in the second half, Philip Ellis conducts Tchaikovsky’s first symphony.

The 2019 half of the series concludes on Saturday, December 14, with the Dunedin Consort performing Handel's monumental masterpiece Messiah, starring outstanding Barrow contralto, Jess Dandy.

The LSCS's 2019/2020 programme of eight concerts comes to a spectacular end on Saturday, April 25, with the return - after apparently an absence of more than 20 years - of another revered UK ensemble, the excellent Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, under its chief conductor, Vasily Petrenko.

For full details of the eight concerts and ticket details visit www.lakelandsinfonia.org.uk.