CLASSICAL concerts at Kirk-leatham, near Redcar, are one of the region's best-kept secrets.

What started as a one-off experiment with a concert pianist from Lithuania five years ago has developed into a leading concert venue.

In five years, the trustees of Sir William Turner's Almshouses have presented almost 40 recitals and chamber concerts to an audience totalling more than 3,500 people.

Each year, the organisers arrange a special event before the summer break. Past events have included a pre-concert picnic-in-the-park with a brass band, a special concert with North-East soprano, Suzannah Clarke, and even complimentary wine with strawberries and cream in the interval.

This year's treat is a three-day feast of classical music featuring the best of regional, national and international musicians.

The festival opens on Wednesday, July 9, with David Trippett, one of Britain's rising stars of the piano, and features young musician Sam Kennedy, leader of Tees Valley Youth Orchestra and about to start at Cambridge University, reading music.

The programme includes Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata, Bach's Prelude & Fugue in F-minor and the exciting Dante Sonata by Liszt.

Thursday, July 10, presents a double bill with Mindaugas Bacus, principal cellist with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and Marija Dzenkauskaite, one of Lithuania's foremost accompanists. The programme includes Frank Bridge's Sonata for cello, Piazzola's Grand Tango for Cello and Piano and De Falla's Seven Spanish Songs transcribed for the instruments.

Graham Scott closes the festival on Friday, July 11. One of Britain's most accomplished pianists, he has played in principal national concert venues from Washington and New York, across Europe and as far east as Japan. This concert is part of his farewell tour prior to moving to America to take up his new post as professor of keyboards at the Chicago College of Performing Arts. His programme includes Mozart's Sonata in F major K533/494, Kreisleriana by Schumann, two pieces by Liszt and Earl Wilde's Grand Fantasy on Porgy and Bess.

The seventeenth century chapel at the almshouses has proved an ideal venue for intimate recitals and chamber concerts. Seating only 100, no-one is more than ten or 12 paces from the performer.

Despite its antiquity, it provides comfort for a modern audience with upholstered seats, central heating and free, floodlit, off-street parking for patrons.

Tickets are available from Concert Tickets, 1 Sir William Turner's Court, Kirkleatham, Redcar, TS10 4QT or, with a credit card, on 01642 490401. Dave Robson.