CELLIST Julian Lloyd Webber will remain forever grateful for Harrogate’s role in his fledgling career as he prepares to travel north to open Harrogate International Festival’s 21st Spring Sunday Series on January 26.

“Harrogate was one of the first places I played when I was a student,” says Julian. “It was the Beethoven Bicentenary Concert given by pianist John Lill, who I accompanied at Harrogate Royal Hall in December 1970 when I was 19, so Harrogate and I go back a long way.

“As a result of that concert, Harrogate Festival asked me to do the Young Musicians series, and you need opportunities like that when you’re relatively unknown as it’s a festival that people know about and it’s always been reviewed.”

Lloyd Webber’s performance was duly praised by the Yorkshire Post’s esteemed critic, Ernest Bradbury. “Really I’ve been a regular visitor ever since, playing in all sorts of different situations, mainly at the Royal Hall and the International Centre, where I did a televised concert with Yehudi Menuhin, which must have been in around 1987/88,” says Julian.

Ask him to pick between the two halls, and he chooses the Royal Hall. “The International Centre is not the easiest place to play a cello concerto. It doesn’t have the richness and resonance of the Royal Hall,” he says.

The Spring Sunday Series of coffee concerts takes place in a different location, the Old Swan Hotel, where Julian, his cellist wife Jiaxin Cheng and pianist Pam Chowhan will present Tale Of Two Cellos. Together they will explore the music of Julian’s brother Andrew Lloyd Webber, Bach and Vivaldi.

“The Sunday Series is a much more informal and relaxed concert format than normal, particularly this programme, when I’ll introduce all the works,” says Julian.

“I like all the different forms of concert, like the dramatics and theatricality of orchestral concerts, though some people are put off by that, but not me. I’ve always enjoyed that.

“I also like concerts where I’m able to talk to the audience about the pieces we’re doing, as I’ll be doing with the programme we’re touring now, where the important thing is to have contrast in the programme, with solos including piano solos, to ensure it’s varied.”

Julian’s tour is taking in London, Edinburgh and Manchester, with Harrogate being the only Yorkshire date and the smallest of the itinerary. “Yes, but Harrogate is so prestigious,” he says.

• Julian Lloyd Webber, Jiaxin Cheng and Pam Chowhan, Tale Of Two Cellos, Harrogate International Festival Spring Sunday series, Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate, January 26, 11am. Box office: 01423 562303 or harrogateinternationalfestivals.com