Kicking off this year's Abingdon Arts Festival (March 1-15), will be another in ABCD Film Society's series of films linked to music performances. Marking the 60th anniversary of the death of Ralph Vaughan Williams, St Nicolas Church will be the venue for a screening of Ken Russell's documentary about his life. This will be followed by his song cycle Songs of Travel, and two pieces from House of Life - settings of poems by Robert Louis Stevenson and Dante Gabriel Rossetti respectively - performed by young Australian baritone, and winner of the 2007 Handel Singing Competition, Derek Welton (pictured).

Previous showings have included Russell's films about Elgar (1962) and Delius (1968), commissioned by the BBC Monitor programme. The Vaughan Williams film was made in 1984 for Granada's South Bank Show. "Russell involved Vaughan Williams's widow, Ursula," said Mike Bloom, organiser of the event. "She talks informatively about his life, and they go round places associated with his music, such as A London Symphony and A Sea Symphony."

Clips of Captain Scott in action illuminate the Antarctic Symphony, written for the 1947 film Scott of the Antarctic.

"Russell's very respectful of the music and also very cheeky. Both he and Ursula dance - and there's some punk music, which you mightn't expect in a film about Vaughan Williams! She takes it all wonderfully well. It's very much of its time, celebrating London in the 1980s - which was her London as well as Russell's.

"Though film and music are distinct art forms, many people straddle the two. Derek Welton's accompanist for the evening, Wendy Hiscocks, for example, is doing a PhD. on the Australian composer Arthur Benjamin - as well as his classical work, he wrote the music for The Man who Knew Too Much.

"Music's always been important in film, even in the silent era. ABCD Film Society shows at least one silent film a year, with a pianist who plays regularly at the BFI South Bank. Equally, film is a very good, and very natural, medium for talking about music."

The performance takes place tomorrow at 7.30 pm. For tickets call 01235 522163 or go to info@abfilms. org.uk