Supping pints in student pub Delius is the closest most young people probably get to Bradford's 19th century composer.

But further down Great Horton Road, at the Love Apple cafe, an eclectic music programme celebrates the life and work of Frederick Delius for a youth audience.

One such event is Groove Harder, a contemporary take on Delius featuring "a heady cocktail of leftfield and alternative beats and a dub/reggae party."

It's something Tasmin Little, director of Delius Inspired a week-long festival celebrating the composer's life and work - is delighted about.

Tasmin, one of the world's leading violinists, will be joined at the Bradford festival by a glittering line-up of classical musicians, including cellist Julian Lloyd-Webber and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.

"This festival is designed for the people of Bradford, for as wide an audience as possible," says Tasmin. "It's inclusive, with something for everyone. The Love Apple events are a great way of whetting younger appetites.

"Top names in classical music are coming from all over the world to perform and there's a varied range of concerts featuring 14 schools. I first took part in a Delius festival when I was 19, this one is going to be even bigger and better.

"Delius is an under-appreciated composer, his music is difficult to pigeon-hole and so much of it is just never played. And many players don't know of his work. At least for that week in Bradford it will get a good airing!"

Fritz Theodor Albert Delius was born in Bradford in 1862 to German parents. His father was a prosperous businessman in Bradford's wool industry.

As a boy Delius learned violin and piano and after attending Bradford Grammar School studied at the International College in London, then worked as an apprentice in his father's business before his musical career took off.

He died in 1934, outlived by his wife Jelka for just a year. They are buried in Surrey.

Although London-born, Tasmin feels close to Delius's home city. She received an honorary degree from the University of Bradford, which named its music school after her, and she's "immensely proud" to be holding the Delius festival here.

She was introduced to Delius by her Bradford-born father, an actor who was in Yorkshire soap Emmerdale.

"I grew up with Delius on the record player but when I was training (at the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Guildhall School of Music) I was discouraged from playing him," she says. "I think that was partly because many of those teaching me were unfamiliar with his music! Being told I couldn't play Delius made me even more determined to play him - and I wanted to learn more about the man behind the music."

"A moody old man" is how Kate Bush described him in Delius, an odd little track on her Never for Ever album.

He may have been moody in later years, but as a younger man he led a passionate life and had many affairs.

"He was passionate and open-minded and he wrote passionate music," says Tasmin. "He wasn't one for self-publicity, he was a recluse who left England for France and he lived his life as he chose to."

Tasmin's interest in Delius the man took her to Florida where she filmed a documentary about an affair he'd had there in his 20s while trying to establish an orange plantation for his father.

It was a journey Tasmin had wanted to make since, as a music student in the 1980s, she read Delius As I Knew Him by Eric Fenby, the composer's biographer, which revealed the one affair of his life'.

"While in Florida he had an intense affair with a black plantation worker," says Tasmin. "It was an area of his life that seemed largely buried but I was fascinated and felt it was important to the emotion and sense of yearning in his music."

When Delius returned to Britain in 1886 he discovered the woman had had a baby but, fearing social ostracism from the society whose approval he needed to further his musical career, he abandoned his lover.

"He was tormented by a deep sense of loss though and a few years returned to Florida, but never found the woman or child," says Tasmin. "I went to Florida to try and find out more about them and got as far as I could, but didn't discover any descendents. But it was fascinating to be in a place that had such an impact on him; he was interested in jazz, blues and the songs the plantation workers sang and all that passion and colour is there in his music."

Tasmin's film, The Lost Child, will be shown during Delius Inspired. The festival also features music by other composers Tasmin says inspired and were inspired by Delius.

"When you hear the music of composers like Ravel or Elgar you can hear his influence," she says. "I hope people will come along and hear that for themselves.

  • Delius Inspired runs from July 1-8. For tickets ring (01274) 432000. Most concerts taking place during Delius Inspired will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3. The festival is part of Bradford's Big Summer of events and the £5 million Illuminate festival, an urban cultural programme hosting events in five regional cities, including Bradford, throughout the year.