CLASSICAL music programme Ambleside Days arrives on Thursday August 31, with a series of concerts taking place over four days.

The shows will pull together a list of world class performers for this one-off event.

Originally, Ambleside Days was a special commission by Zeffirellis, in collaboration with Northern Arts, and featuring the late, great John Taylor, one of the world's most gifted jazz pianists, who died in 2015.

All of the renowned musicians who are set to feature have been inspired by Taylor over the years.

The opening concert, taking place in Zeffirellis main auditorium on Thursday 31, stars the Ambleside Days Quintet with John Helliwell’s Crème Anglaise. Founder member of Supertramp, Helliwell has always had a passion for contemporary jazz and performs live with his five-piece ensemble, before the quintet of Dave Holland, Mike Walker, Gwilym Simcock, Asaf Sirkis and Stan Sulzmann.

The concert on Friday September 1 includes performances from The Joe Locke Quartet, with special guest Tim Garland, and The Gwilym Simcock, Dave Holland, Mike Walker Trio.

The Printmakers and The Tim Garland, Joe Locke and Gwilym Simcock Trio make up the concert for Saturday September 2, and the final event the following evening is An Evening With Dave Holland. He is joined by Grammy-nominated recording artist Norma Winstone and Gwilym Simcock, and Mike Walker on guitar. The second set sees Dave and many of the outstanding musicians that have performed over the previous three days come together for a joyful climax to this festival.

What makes this festival unique will be the collaborative interaction between these internationally-acclaimed performers. There will be fluid movement of the musicians into different and exciting new groupings, making up one-off duos, trios and larger groups.

Each evening there will be two major performances in the auditorium at Zeffirellis, and also in the jazz bar.

Manchester-born John Taylor was an accompanist to the singer Cleo Laine, and also worked with many visiting artists at the world famous Ronnie Scott’s club, later becoming a member of Ronnie’s quintet.

He was also a member of Kenny Wheeler’s quartet and in a duo with John Surman - their recording of Ambleside Days won critical acclaim and gave this new festival its name.

The programme of main concerts is available at www.amblesidedays.co.uk and tickets are available from Zeffirellis.