FOLLOWING the tremendous success of last year's Cotswold Early Music Festival, its organisers and musical director Richard Lester have set up a period instrument ensemble, Academia Musicali, that will act as a resident festival band and provide a beacon for Baroque music in the Cotswolds.

The ensemble includes some of the finest period instrument performers in the world; experts in authentic style and interpretation.

The group has already contributed a complete CD to Richard Lester's Mammoth Scarlatti project for Nimbus Records with Nerys Evans and Elizabeth Lester performing six of the sonatas on recorders.

And this year, concerts are planned at Malmesbury Abbey (July 25 in the Cotswold Early Music Festival), with future concerts in Cheltenham and the South Bank Arts Centre in London.

Academia Musicali will augment to chamber orchestra proportions during the 2008 Cotswold Early Music Festival, presenting a programme of outstanding Baroque classics.

A series of six subscription concerts will also take place at Bingham House Gallery in Cirencester throughout this year.

The first date for the subscription series is Saturday, April 14 at 7.30pm when Elizabeth Lester and her father, Richard will perform a programme of recorder and harpsichord music from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Tickets for this and other subscription concerts are £10 with a reduction of £4 for subscribers available at the door only on the night of the concert.

Four of the concerts will be held during the Cotswold Early Music Festival (July 25-28 at 11am) with the final concert on Saturday, October 20 at 7.30pm.