There’s an important invitation for classical fans as the 74th Tilford Bach Festival is just around the corner.

The festival will open at 7.30pm on June 19 with a concert in The Aldridge Theatre, Frensham Heights School, when The London Handel Players and dancers Mary Collins and Steven Player will present Invitation to the Dance.

The performers are renowned for their lively revivals of original choreographies from the Baroque period, and there will be music by Handel, Corelli, Lully, Campra and JS Bach.

After the performance, the audience will be invited to join an informal dance workshop run by Mary and Steven, accompanied by the London Handel Players.

The following night, the London Handel Players, Pegasus choir and soloists will give a performance of Bach’s Easter Oratorio followed by his Cantata BWV 21, Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, at All Saints’ Church, Tilford, at 7.30pm.

On the final night, the music will move to Godalming Baptist Church at 7pm, for a celebration of ‘The Joy of Baroque’ in which emerging Baroque musicians will perform a programme of Corelli, Leclair, JS Bach, Geminiani and Vivaldi.

Tickets are available from the Tilford Bach Festival website.

The Tilford Bach Festival was founded in 1952 by Denys Darlow, then organist at All Saints’ Church and associate conductor of the BBC Opera Orchestra.

Denys wanted all performances to be fully professional and of a quality to entice soloists of international renown to come to a small church in a tiny village several miles from the nearest railway station.

He succeeded and over the years famous names have included Dame Emma Kirkby, Felicity Palmer, Ian Partridge, Charles Daniels and Joanne Lunn.

The festival is now directed by Adrian Butterfield, director of the London Handel Players and Professor of Baroque Violin at the Royal College of Music.