Get ready for the finest sounds of summer

Venues great and small, old and new, and in places where you would least expect to find world famous names, for this is the time when visitors come from far and wide to sample more than 300 events on offer in Yorkshire's summer festivals.

First on the scene is the picturesque market town of Beverley where you can enjoy a journey of discovery through music of yesteryear against a backdrop of historic churches. The Minster next Friday turns back the clock to the age of candlelight when the group, Stile Antico, fill the building with their ethereal voices.

Why not try out your own vocal chords the following day, when Beverley has its own version of those highly popular television shows that create instant choirs. And then, later in the day, hear how the musicians from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment revive the sounds that were heard in churches three centuries ago.

While in that mood, don't miss the outlandishly extrovert group, Red Priest, who take Baroque music, put it through the mincing machine and reform it in bite-sized pieces for easy consumption.

They are on stage to open the highly popular Swaledale Festival next Saturday, it is the first of 51 events that take in 16 neighbouring towns and villages.

For young audiences, there is an insight into the making of puppets, followed by a performance of The Selfish Giant, or they can take part in a tour of the percussion world with the much travelled, Kudos Percussion Duo.

The star-studded fortnight this year brings Peter Donohoe in a programme of his high-voltage piano virtuosity, and the stunning voice of Emma Kirkby in an evening of the well-known soprano songs and arias.

Yet for many, Swaledale is all about brass bands, and there are five local groups on show, with a visit from the renowned Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band who bring the amazing solo cornet of Kirsty Abbotts.

As that comes to an end, up the road, Grassington takes over, its festival having grown from a long weekend to a fun-packed fortnight.

You can try your hand at the art of dry stone walling, or sit back and find out from Alistair Campbell the truth behind the Tony Blair years. There is Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in the open air; the legendary Acker Bilk and his Paramount Jazz Band, and a spectacular Last Night of the Proms, featuring tenor Mark LeBrocq and soprano Mary Nelson, all of your prom favourites ending with a firework display.

At the Northern Aldborough Festival, they do things the other way round, a Gala Concert with the Hall orchestra featuring two stars from English National Opera, Mary Plazas and John Hudson. Put on your glad-rags, bring the champagne, and you could be at the famous Glyndebourne Opera as you take a long picnic interval on the manicured lawns of Rudding Park.

It sets the scene for a extraordinary week of today's foremost young artists, Alessandro Taverna, the star of the 2009 Leeds International Piano Competition, sharing the festival major billing with the prizewinner from the 2007 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, Elizabeth Watts, her programme mainly of music by Schubert and Richard Strauss.

Pop Goes the '80s, the colourful touring show makes a non-stop finale,

the fully-staged spectacular production containing the greatest hit singles of that decade, the evening entertainment going through to midnight.

It is in the 15th-century church overlooking Sheffield that Bradfield's highly ambitious line-up ranges from the sublime sounds of the fabulous French piano duo, Pascal and Ami Roge, to the fun of Gilbert and Sullivan's greatest hit tunes presented by soloists from the world famous D'Oyly Carte Opera.

Another leap back in time for a musical tour of York's many impressive churches, the Minster providing the setting for the hugely popular Italian composer, Claudio Monteverdi, who, 400 years ago, fashioned his epic Vespro. It is going to be a marathon evening for performers and audience, the four hours coming in two parts with time out for your supper.

It forms part of the Early Music Festival that each year attracts an audience from around the world, this year offering a production, staged in Venetian masks, of the 16th-century slapstick musical, L'Amfiparnaso, presented by ensemble I Faglioni. And book now if you hold out any chance of seeing The Sixteen, who make their yearly visit to the Minster as part of their Choral Pilgrimage,

For the most high-profile festival, we move to Ryedale. It's a sea of tranquility where stately homes provide the most stunning venues, Hovingham Hall is skilfully transformed into a mini opera house for the staging of Britten's The Prodigal Son and Mendelssohn's The Homecoming, while the full beauty of Castle Howard is revealed in its three concert venues, with three programmes, offered by three famous performers – all for the price of one.

Forty-nine events and tickets are already selling out fast for the Orchestra of Opera North with cellist Colin Carr and Poulenc's opera, La Voix humaine, staring Claire Booth.

Running at the same time is the long-established multi-cultural Harrogate International Festival of literature and music. Presenting some well-known faces that include the Sheffield-born pianist, Benjamin Frith, and another chance to hear the three major prizewinners of the 2009 Leeds International Pianoforte Competition.

Saving the best to last? The newcomers of the North York Moors Chamber Music Festival offer an exciting group of young performers. It includes the brilliant violinist, Jack Liebeck, cellists, Jamie Walton and Guy Johnston, the critically acclaimed pianist, Daniel Grimwood, and the Sacconi Quartet.

They all mix and match in a series of innovative programmes.

Festival fact file

Beverley Early Music Festival: May 28-30. 01904 658338. www.ncem.co.uk

Swaledale Festival: May 29-Jun 13. 01748 880019. www.swaledale-festival.org.uk

Grassington Festival: June 11-26. 01756 752691. www.grassington-festival.org.uk

Northern Aldborough Festival: June 17-26. 01423 322586. www.aldboroughfestival.com

Bradfield Festival of Music: June 19-26. 0114 2340927. www.bradfieldfestivalofmusic.co.uk

York Early Music Festival: July 9-17. 01904 658338. www.ncem.co.uk

Ryedale Festival: July 16-Aug 1. 01751 475777. www.ryedalefestival.co.uk

Harrogate International Festival: Jul 16-Aug 1. www.harrogate-festival.org.uk

Moor Music Festival: Aug 12-15. 07983 985538. www.

moormusicfestival.co.uk

North York Moors Chamber Music Festival: Aug 16-28. 01751 417795 www.nymchambermusicfestival.org

Limetree Festival: Aug 27-29. 01937 557812. www.limetreefestival.co.uk