Chichester Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Michael Walsh, gave us a festive start to Chichester Festivities on its opening night last Friday.

The programme started with an ambitious choice of overture, Beethoven's Fidelio, in a spirited performance in which the woodwind and horns managed their exposed passages with ease.
 
Undoubtedly the high spot of the evening was the appearance of the young cellist, Ella Rundle who is just 17 and in her third year at the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey. A former pupil at Chichester High School, Ella is already an accomplished soloist, and gave a fine, assured performance, from memory, of the Saint-Saens cello concerto in A Minor. Ella performed an encore - a flamenco by the guitar composer, Tagell, - on unaccompanied cello, which gave the audience the chance to appreciate her technique in a dazzling display of multiple stopping and harmonics.

Beethoven's Symphony No. 2 was perhaps the least secure work in the programme, where details of orchestral tuning and some exposed passages, notably for the horns, showed areas where the orchestra needs to work, but it was nevertheless generally securely played, with brisk, well-chosen tempi.

Even more ambitious was the choice of Brahms' Variations on a Theme of Haydn (the St. Antoni Chorale). Here the orchestra seemed much more assured, with some excellent playing from the wind, and in which the strings displayed their strength.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable performance in which the orchestra, ably led by Mark Hartt-Palmer, were at their best.

Ian Graham-Jones, Chichester Observer