THE Hampstead & Highgate Festival - the cultural highlight of north London - kicks off tonight with ten days of music, theatre, spoken word, film, dance and visual art to wow audiences.

THE Hampstead & Highgate Festival - the cultural highlight of north London - kicks off tonight with ten days of music, theatre, spoken word, film, dance and visual art to wow audiences.

This year’s edition of the annual extravaganza, which features a wider range of events than ever before, has been inspired by the music of Sergey Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes company which conquered Europe in the 20th century.

With 40 events running until October 3, the festival - led by artistic director Danny Driver and festival director Gwenneth Bransby-Zachary - will welcome a host of well known stars of stage and screen.

Highlights include internationally renowned German musicians Faur� Quartett in their only 2010 appearance in England, soprano Dame Felicity Lott with pianist Graham Johnson in a programme devised especially for the festival, and two-piano team Simon Crawford-Phillips and Philip Moore performing Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring in its original version.

The festival’s theatre and spoken word events include an evening with actor Simon Callow performing ‘Lightning Conductor’, a new monologue on the subject of Sergey Diaghilev written by playwright Matthew Hurt.

Russian essayist and critic Zinovy Zinik will be reading and discussing Tolstoy with broadcaster Piers Plowright, while director Jonathan Miller will host an evening on Anton Chekhov.

Elsewhere, Hampstead and Kilburn MP Glenda Jackson will go back to her performing roots, reading Requiem, Russian poet Anna Akhmatova’s epic cycle of poems.

A number of events will also be put on specifically for children and families while a full week of free lunchtime concerts are taking place at Hampstead Parish Church.

Venues across the area will be hosting events daily including the Hampstead Parish church, Everyman Hampstead cinema and London Jewish Cultural Centre.

For full details of tickets and events visit www.hamandhighfest.co.uk.