THIS is year number nine for the York Late Music Festival, and the festival team is anticipating its most fruitful fortnight so far.

"It's the same size, same format: ten concerts of music of our time, eight of them classical, one jazz and one Indian," says administrator Steve Crowther.

"You need some variety in the programming. If you don't have that variety, people will just choose one classical concert or another, but if you have a jazz concert as well, some people will go to it just because it's jazz.

"So we're really pleased to have signed up Spin Marvel, especially now that Django Bates will be there, substituting for Stale Storlokken on keyboards."

Spin Marvel will close the festival on March 30 at the National Centre for Early Music - the Walmgate setting for all the concerts - in a show being promoted in tandem with J-Night, David Porter's international jazz series in York.

With funding to attract new audiences, the National Centre is seeking to promote more world music, not least from the Asian tour circuit: the Late Music Festival's concert of Indian music and dance on March 27 fits the bill perfectly. Manorama Prasad sings in the first half; Usha Raghavan, from Madras, performs Bharatanatyam dances, one of the oldest Indian dance forms, in the second.

"The thread running through all the concerts at this festival is new music: the Indian music will be new music, the jazz will be improvised; the Hilliard Ensemble will be doing new work by Gavin Bryars," says Steve.

The Hilliard Ensemble is making a rare visit to York to open the festival tonight, playing works by Joanne Metcalfe and Bryars' First Book Of Madrigals alongside ancient masterpieces of Italian origin. "The Hilliard are the biggest name we've ever had, and hopefully the concert will sell out. They were booked to perform in Lancaster the night before, so they agreed to do more or less the same programme for us with some more modern elements," says Steve, who is delighted that the festival can now attract musicians of the Hilliard's calibre.

"We've been given some lottery funding for the second time and that's enabled us to put on concerts we otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford. The idea is to raise the profile of the festival.

"The gamble is always there in a new music festival: you do take risks and you should. If it's just a safe trip, you lose all your edge and become just like any other concert series."

For tickets (£5 to £12), ring 01904 658338.

Festival What's On

All events take place at the National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret's Church, Walmgate, York.

Friday, March 15

7.30pm: The Hilliard Ensemble

Saturday

7.30pm: PM Music Ensemble

Tuesday

7.30pm: Roderick Williams (baritone) with Michael Cleaver (piano)

Thursday

7.30pm: Black Hair

Saturday, March 22

7.30pm: Ian Pace (piano)

Sunday, March 23

7.30pm: Topologie

Tuesday, March 25

7.30pm: York Guitar Quartet

Thursday, March 27

7.30pm: A Concert of Indian Music and Dance featuring Manorama Prasad

Friday, March 28

7.30pm; Fitzwilliam String Quartet

Sunday, March 30

7.30pm: Spin Marvel

Updated: 09:44 Friday, March 14, 2003