My brief from the MOS committee for this season was to devise “audience-friendly programmes”, and only you can prove if I’ve succeeded by spreading the word and turning up in your droves..!

Certainly there’s much to savour, both for listeners and players, and equally certainly MSO is playing better – and more “professionally” – than ever. Once again we’ve five fabulous soloists. Our violinists, Mathilde Milwidsky and Benjamin Baker, are well-known to us and return with exciting pieces by Bruch and Korngold, as does Jonathan Leibovitz with one of the splendid clarinet concertos by Weber. We also welcome a fine singer, Susan Legg for Elgar’s well-loved “Sea Pictures”. And there’s an absolutely brilliant trumpeter, Matilda Lloyd, who originally hails from Sevenoaks. Matilda is going places fast, with two recent critically-acclaimed CDs, and for us she’s playing Haydn’s popular Trumpet Concerto.

MSO will be busy with great symphonies by Beethoven, Borodin, Brahms and Schubert. There’s also lighter fare from Johann Strauss and friends in a Christmas / New Year style concert, and to end the season we’ve a host of spectacular American composers – John Adams, Bernstein, Copland, Barber and Gershwin.