LOVERS of fine music of all sorts will be in their element tomorrow when Weymouth Music Festival takes place at Wey Valley School.

From 9am until 5pm, musicians of all ages and standards will gather to play at this non-competitive event.

There were fears that the festival would fold due to a lack of entries, but there was a late surge and now organisers expect record numbers to take part.

The festival’s artistic advisor, pianist Duncan Honeybourne, said: “Weymouth festival is an unrivalled opportunity for musicians to play in an unthreatening, friendly atmosphere in front of leading professional adjudicators.

“It is a wonderful occasion where you can find musicians who want to go into a career in music rubbing shoulders with people who sing or play just for pleasure and fun. The raison d’etre of the festival is to bring all levels of musicians together in an inspiring, non-competitive and friendly way.”

The classes at this year’s festival are choirs and vocal ensembles, vocal solos and duets, piano and strings, orchestras, bands and instrumental groups and brass and woodwind.

Several local schools are taking part and this year’s adjudicators are Katharine Lam, Christopher O’Neal and Christine Cairns, who Duncan describes as ‘bubbly’.

The festival is also open to members of the public who are invited to come along and enjoy the wealth of musical talent on show.

The festival will be followed by a concert on March 7, also in Wey Valley School.

Duncan said: “The concert will be a cross-section of people from the festival giving a fun evening of music to suit all tastes. They will not necessarily be the best performers from the festival, although there will be one or two people who made a real impression.”

He added: “The important thing to remember about Weymouth Music Festival is that there are no winners and no losers. It is open to all ages and it aims to give people a wider appreciation and enjoyment of music.”

The festival is at Wey Valley School, Dorchester Road, Weymouth and public admission is £2 for the day. There are full details at weymouthmusicfestival.co.uk