THE SOUNDS of chamber music will reverberate through Cerne Abbas again as a popular music festival returns.

This year’s Cerne Abbas Music Festival will run from June 12 to June 15 and will again feature the acclaimed Gaudier Ensemble.

The well-established festival will see a series of performances in St Mary’s Church from the Ensemble, which boasts leading musicians from across Europe.

The musicians come together every year in the Dorset village to perform their chamber music repertoire for wind, strings and piano.

The group boasting soloists, musicians and leaders involved with the likes of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the English Chamber Orchestra and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales as well as The Swedish Radio Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Nordeutsche Rundfunk Orchestra and the Florestan Trio.

The programme for the 2015 festival includes well known masterpieces by Mozart, Beethoven and Bach together with lesser known works from the Baroque era to the present day.

There will be an emphasis on French composers this year with performances featuring composers such as Gounod, Faure, Poulenc and the comparatively unknown 19th century female composer Louise Farrenc.

On Friday, June 13 there will be a special festival talk by musicologist Robert Philip on the Frenchness of French Music.

The talk will be followed by a concert of French wind music which will see the Gaudier Ensemble joined by advanced students of the Royal College of Music. Another programme highlight will be the a Saturday morning family concert featuring Tom Smail’s Pied Piper, narrated by Simon James.

Artistic director of the festival Robert Hosford said: “We hope there is something her for all music lovers, so please join us for another musical adventure in the idyllic surroundings of Cerne Abbas.”

For more information visit cerneabbasmusicfestival.co.uk or contact the festival office on 07527 528673.