There are lessons to be learned across the country from the direction that has been taken by the Perth Festival of the Arts since around the start of this new millennium.

Perth began, and was conceived, as an event that was centred on a programme of top-quality classical music. The volunteer committee and the sole member of staff (administrator Sandra Ralston) who make it happen each year insist that this remains the case – and with the Nash Ensemble, ­clarinettist Emma Johnson, the King’s Singers and Nicola Benedetti in last year’s line-up, that view would hard to deny. Those are all big names in much bigger cities. There have, however, been clear moves to expand the remit and extend the audience that is ­attracted to Perth Festival events.

Five years ago, for example, the concluding concert featured Lesley Garrett with the Northern Sinfonia – and if that wasn’t your bag, you could have watched the Stranglers instead. Elsewhere in that programme, it was impossible not to be reminded of Glasgow’s much-missed Mayfest, with shows by comedian Dave Gorman and singer-songwriter Loudon ­Wainwright III. Indeed, the Perth Festival also happens in May (Wednesday 19 to Sunday 30 this year), and is just an hour away on the train from Glasgow. And just as it was easy to recognise a few commuters from Clydeside at Wainwright’s Perth ­Theatre gig, so it is possible that the Perth Festival has filled a slot in the performance calendar of some artists who might previously have looked to Glasgow for work that month.

Last year’s programme maintained the mix, with concerts by Mercury-nominated folkie heart-throb Seth Lakeman, Scottish national treasure and former frontman of Orange Juice Edwyn Collins, and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra.

The first details of the 2010 Perth programme have just been announced, and the SNJO are back again, this year bringing the biggest hit so far of their acclaimed and extensive repertoire. Tommy Smith’s bold arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue for soloist Brian Kellock is a good example of what might be termed phase two of the Perth project: the blurring of any boundaries between the classical core programme and the broader programming remit. The festival will also be welcoming the eclectic chamber group led by violinist Robert McFall, Mr McFall’s Chamber, in their much-praised liaison with ­Dundee’s Tom Waits, Michael Marra.

Arguably the most eccentric example of this crossover, however, is the eight-piece Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain, who will be appearing in Perth less than a year after they stole the show at the BBC Proms in London. This orchestra’s repertoire includes such classics as the Undertones’ Teenage Kicks, Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven and Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, as well as an ever-so-ironic reading of Leaning On A Lampost.

This year’s festival programme will begin with a concert by the man who wrote American Pie, Don McLean, and more popular music and comedy remains to be revealed, but in 2010 that side of Perth sits alongside a bumper classical programme that will have the traditionalists salivating. It includes appearances by two major British orchestras, accompanied by stars of international standing, as

well as a visit by the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra.

Another darling of last year’s proms, familiar to anyone who watched the Last Night, is the soloist with ­Manchester’s Halle Orchestra. Trumpeter Alison Balsom was also named Female Artist of the Year at the Classical Brits last year, for which she wore the sort of frock guaranteed to place her picture in the tabloids. Expect her to be rather more demurely attired for the closing Brewin Dolphin-­sponsored concert, conducted by her beau, English National Opera’s music director Edward Gardner.

The third orchestra is none other than the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, following up their appearance at Orkney’s St Magnus Festival in a further riposte to those who say that the band doesn’t get out enough. The RSNO’s concert, on Friday May 28, features American soprano Barbara Bonney, who has sung ­everything from West Side Story with Michael Ball to Beethoven’s ninth with Sir Simon Rattle on the concert platform, as well as having an illustrious opera career. The classical knight on the podium here is former BBC ­Symphony Orchestra chief ­conductor Sir Andrew Davis, and the concert is part of the 800th anniversary celebrations of the Fair City being granted Royal Burgh status by King William the Lion.

The heritage of the local area will also be celebrated by the BBC ­Singers with a concert featuring the music of Robert Carver. Scotland’s greatest composer of the 16th ­century, Carver was a monk at Scone.

Opera-lovers are also in for a bumper year, with the festival’s ­regular visitors, English Touring Opera, bringing an unprecedented three full productions, thanks to sponsorship from HSBC. For the first time in the festival’s 39 years it will be possible to see three different operas on consecutive nights in Perth ­Theatre, starting on Thursday May 20 with Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and continuing with Mozart’s Marriage Of Figaro and then Britten’s A ­Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Perth Festival of the Arts runs from May 19-30. www.perthfestival.co.uk.