St Mary’s Centre, a hidden gem nestled behind County Hall, will once again become a major focus of attention during this year’s Chester Summer Music festival.

The atmospheric surroundings of this peaceful venue are the perfect setting for live music and will this year will host many concerts in the centrepiece event of the new Chestival 2010.

As usual, the lunchtime programme continues in St Mary’s and is joined by a new venture of informal and light evening concerts, so why not go along and discover Music in St Mary’s.

The Listen at Lunchtime concerts all start at 1pm and last for 45 minutes, a perfect way to spend your lunch hour.

The line-up includes Adam Walker, a 22-year-old ex-Chetham’s student who is already principal flute of the LondonSymphony Orchestra, and Hannah Yip, who impressed everyone in last year’s festival and this year will be playing Debussy and Messiaen.

In the evenings the venue will change and come to life with three intimate and exciting concerts with tickets costing £14.

Starting on Wednesday, July 7 with Aquarelle Guitar Quartet, these ex-students of the Royal Northern College of Music will entertain audiences with a concert including a blend of old and new.

The second evening concert in St Mary’s centre is the Heath Quartet, also ex-students of Royal Northern College. This string quartet has already won first prize and the audience prize at the Tromp International Competition, and second prize at the Haydn International Competition. They perform on Thursday, July 8 at 7.30pm.

The final evening concert, on Friday, July 9 at 7.30pm, features one of the UK’s most promising singer/songwriters, Katie Buckhaven.

Katie has a loyal following in the south and is performing in Chester during the festival with an acoustic set, one of her first in the North West.

The Chester Summer Music Festival runs for two weeks from June 30 to July 14 and features 12 evening concerts, seven lunchtime concerts, two vocal coaching sessions and one Big Sing.

It will be the finale to Chester’s newest festival, Chestival, sponsored by Bank of America.

For all the festival concerts and ticket information, visit www.chesterfestivals.co.uk, where you will be able to view the whole programme and book tickets or call on 0845 2417868.