In the late 1750s and early 1760s, Joseph Haydn was working as a kappelmeister (orchestra and choir conductor) in Dolní Lukavice, a small town south of Plzeň. It was there that he wrote his first symphony, the "Lukavice." And it is there that his memory continues to thrive, this year with the largest-ever program of the Haydn Festival, an annual gathering of early music devotees.

The growth of the Haydn Festival, now in its 14th year, parallels a remarkable spurt of interest in Baroque music in this country. Michaela Freemanová, the dramaturgist for this year's festival, traces it back to 1989, when she and her husband David were just starting their early music workshops in the Czech Republic. "There was hardly anyone who could play period instruments then — the regime didn't like them," she says. "Then, after the revolution, people were free to study whatever they wanted. And in just a year and a half, everything was different."

The festival focuses on Haydn, famous contemporaries such as Mozart and Beethoven, and a generous selection of Czech composers from the Baroque period. This year the emphasis is on young ensembles — who, as always, will be playing period instruments. The only concert played on modern instruments is the first, Sept. 16, which features the Plzeň Conservatory Orchestra performing the "Lukavice" symphony in the sumptuous Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Dolní Lukavice.

The remaining 11 concerts are in neighboring towns and venues selected to match the music programs. Among the highlights:

Ensemble Accento, a Czech trio that includes soprano Hana Blažíková, performs Bach, Telemann and other Baroque favorites Sept. 17 at a restored Baroque mansion in the town of Nebílovy. The next night, the town of Příchovice hosts its first-ever festival performance, a recital by Japanese soprano Nao Higano, who lives in Slovakia, and fortepiano player Veronika Lacková.

An all-star trio that includes Prague's Jana Semerádová on flute plays Beethoven and Haydn at the Západočeské museum in Plzeň Sept. 19. Rounding out the group are Chie Hirai from the Netherlands on the foretepiano and Miroslav Rovenský playing the "invention horn," an early version of the French horn. Another seldom-seen period instrument, the "basset horn," a member of the clarinet family, makes an appearance at a Sept. 20 concert at the grand Assumption Church in Přeštice.

Temperament 430, a Czech string and flute trio, plays a mix of famous and obscure Baroque works Sept. 23 at a lovely monastery in Chotěšov. And on the following night, Camerata Berolinensis, a string trio from Germany, plays an ambitious program at the Západočeské museum that includes a piece by Luigi Boccherini, a sophisticated composer whose works are notoriously difficult to perform.

What is the lure of early music? "I think it's fresh," says Freemanová. "Most concert programs are full of pieces you've heard 20, 30 times before. For most people, this music is totally new. There's always something to discover."

It may seem odd to talk about 300-year-old music as totally new, but anyone who has heard serious Baroque music performed on period instruments can attest to its charms. In fact, it tends to spoil one's ear. After a few pleasant evenings at the Haydn Festival or, for example, Collegium Marianum's excellent summer Baroque series, standard classical works performed by modern orchestras sound brash, even cacophonous.