The festival will showcase the talents of hundreds of performers from the county in classes covering all types of music, speech and drama.

Musicians and dramatists from the age of four upwards will perform everything from Shakespeare to rock music at the festival, which runs from Sunday, April 26 until Thursday, April 30.

Soloists, groups and choirs will compete in more than 200 classes, including verse speaking, group mime, junior choirs, classical guitar and steel band.

Imelda McQuillan, publicity officer for the festival, said: "There is a huge pool of talent in Northamptonshire, especially among young people. It runs right through all areas of drama and music and is a testimony to all the hard work the schools in the county do in the performing arts.

"An awful lot of people take part in some kind of performing art, from steel bands to rock bands, but this festival is still relatively unknown.

"I would encourage anyone who is interested in hearing and seeing great, largely-unrecognised talent from the local area to come along to the festival."

Mrs McQuillan said festival organisers would also be staging a Centres Day on Saturday, May 9, when children from music centres across the county will gather at Caroline Chisholm School, in Wootton Fields, to show off their musical and acting talents.

The best performances from this year's festival will be showcased at the festival's finale at Abington United Reformed Church, in Abington Avenue, on Thursday, May 21.

Programmes will be available soon from music shops in Northampton and the Chronicle & Echo will be running results and pictures from this year's festival.