More than 50 events at 19 cities and towns in the Zemplén region of northeast Hungary are on the festival programme, which runs until August 17.
As in past years, the programme includes exhibitions, concerts, theatre and dance productions, and family events, festival director Miklós Turjányi said.
Each year one premiere is included on the Zemplén Festival programme. This year's premiere will be a production by theatre academy students of Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
On the bill for the festival's popular night-time jazz concerts are the Bolla Quartet, the Juli Fábián Jazz Riff and the Babos Project Special.
For theatre lovers, there will be a performance of the "condensed" works of Shakespeare, in English, and an evening celebrating the French poet Villon with the actors Pál Mácsai and Péter Huzella.
The Dohnányi Orchestra of Budafok
The Honvéd Dance Theatre will join forces with the Hegedűs Group, Andrea M. Simon and Gábor Chován to present a show for families. The production includes new children's verse by the well-known contemporary Hungarian authors Csaba Fecske, Endre Kukorelly and Krisztina Tóth.
To mark Hungary's Renaissance Year 2008, the Zemplén Festival is recreating the court of King Matthias, Hungary's "Renaissance King", in the city of Szerencs.
A highlight of the programme will be a concert and talk with the famous Hungarian soprano Andrea Rost, who has performed at London's Royal Opera, Milan's Scala and New York's Metropolitan Opera.
The Zemplén Festival will conclude with a concert of works by Schubert, Mozart and Pergolesi by the Liszt Chamber Orchestra, joined by Rost.
