Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons and cellist Julian Lloyd Webber are two big names expected to appear at Oxfordshire's first English Music Festival.

Tickets are now on sale for the five-day event, which runs from Friday to Tuesday, October 20 to 24 at venues across the county, including Radley College and Dorchester Abbey.

The festival will celebrate the diversity of English music from the Middle Ages to the present day.

Filming commitments permitting, Mr Irons will narrate Vaughan Williams's Oxford Elegy, and Mr Lloyd Webber will perform works by Holst, Benjamin Britten and Frank Bridge.

Andy Smith, a trustee of the English Music Festival charity, said: "We are hoping to make the festival a major annual event.

"Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds are the heart of rural England and they are very important places to a lot of famous composers.

"A number of the pieces of music relate to Oxford directly, such as the Vaughan Williams."

The BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by David Lloyd-Jones, and the New London Orchestra, under Ronald Corp, will be part of the festival.

Music will also be provided by the Dufay Collective, counter tenor Michael Chance, tenor Charles Daniels, Tonus Peregrinus, baritone Peter Savidge, Endymion and the Oxford Bach Choir.

Organisers are expecting over 400 people to attend the biggest of the 17 concerts.

There will also be four talks on classical music during the festival week.

Organisers are looking for sponsorship from businesses and organisations. Anyone who would like to help should contact Mr Smith on 01372 745000.

For tickets to the event, call 0207 2418953 or visit the festival website at www.englishmusicfestival.org.uk