AT the start of this year's concert, the mayor of Kidderminster, Councillor Siri Hayward, gave a short history of the Town Hall to mark its 150th anniversary, then asked for a minute's silence in respect of the victims of the tsunami disaster.

Possibly because of this, the audience's response to the first item, the Radetsky March by Johann Strauss the elder, was somewhat muted. Indeed this item was omitted from the annual concert in Vienna's Musikverein as it was deemed too cheerful under the circumstances.

However, we were soon transported to the days of the Strauss family, and the programme was, as always, filled with Viennese delights.

The Midland Concert Orchestra's excellent performance of Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik was somewhat spoiled by the audience applauding after each movement, which was extremely irritating. Ditto the Mozart Horn Concerto number 3, where Mike Revell gave a superlative performance.

Once again Judith Horton was the guest singer, and included a song I had never heard before, Some Day I'll Find Him from Franz Lehar's little known operetta Der Zrewitsch. I enjoyed her renditions of the Laughing Song from Die Fledermaus and Vienna, City of My Dreams, but her best performance came in Vilia from The Merry Widow, which was exceptional.

We also heard the overture to Die Fledermaus, when the violins had a slight lapse, but otherwise the orchestra played superbly such delights as Tales from the Vienna Woods, everyone's favourite The Blue Danube, Trisch Trasch Polka and a great fave of mine Donner und Blitzen.

An encore of Radetsky received a tumultous reception, everyone joining in heartily.

Congratulations to Susan Limbrey who stepped in at very short notice to compere the concert.

This super event is now a firm fixture on the Kidderminster calendar. VJS