I am not sure the world of Elgar has ever before had a main man who is also into rock ‘n’ roll and soul – some certainly come to mind who weren’t – but it has now. Nor has it had one, smitten by Holly’s Fender Stratocaster, who collects electric guitars.

I asked him how many he owed and the reply was the collector’s go-to: “I think it’s about 20, but it’s always one less than I need.”

American born Ken is the artistic director of the Elgar Festival, which takes place from May 30 to June 4, and while he is unlikely to be running a few guitar riffs through Sir Edward’s First Symphony, he is part of the three piece rock band Blue Enigma, which will also playing over the six days, emphasising the broad church of this year’s event.

Launched in 2018, the Elgar Festival was established by decree of Worcester City Council and is traditionally held on the weekend closest to Elgar’s birthday, June 2, 1857. For a young lad who first discovered the Worcester composer, figuratively speaking, in his bedroom back home in Madison, Wisconsin, to spearhead such an event must be some sort of dream come true.

Although to put it in context, Ken is also artistic director of the English Symphony Orchestra and holds the same position with Colorado MahlerFest, an annual event in Boulder, Collorado, which celebrates Austrian composer Gustav Mahler.

But Elgar is something else. “His music just grabs the soul,” said Ken. “Everything he wrote has that touch of genius about it. You can come back to a piece you have heard many times before and find something new in it. There was genius in every bar he wrote.”

Ultimately classical music was to be his direction – he began learning the cello in his teenage years – but things could have been different, because arguably rock music got there first. In fact he discovered it at the age of 11.

His father is an amateur banjo and guitar player, so Ken grew up surrounded by fretted instruments, and was playing guitar, banjo and ukulele long before he picked up the cello.

Having saved up for a year to buy his first electric guitar, Ken embarked on an odyssey that ran in parallel with his classical interests for more than a decade. As he entered his early twenties, he stepped away from the guitar following the breakup of his last serious band.

While he continued to play for fun and to participate in the occasional one-off project, it was only in the last few years that he’s had the time and energy to return to his roots with projects like Blue Enigma.

Now he aims to bring some of that musical wanderlust to the Elgar Festival. He explained: “Club Elgar is about two things, having fun and knocking down the walls between musical genres. Most musicians love an eclectic mix of different kinds of music, and I’m no different. The idea of conducting Elgar’s First Symphony and playing a funk tune or a 12-bar blues on guitar in the same evening delights me – and I hope it entertains our audience.”

Since it began – lauded as Critic’s Pick in both The Guardian and The Times – the Elgar Festival has doubled in size and scale and championed Sir Edward to as wide an audience as possible. While Ken has been hailed by Gramophone Magazine as “a symphonic conductor of stature”.

Talking about Buddy Holly’s impact on the world of rock music, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones once famously observed: “Not bad for a lad from Lubbock (Texas).” In the same vein, when talking about Ken Woods and the world of Elgar, it could equally be said: “Not bad for a lad from Madison (Wisconsin).”