Many thanks to all the local businesses and individuals who showed their support for the Richmondshire Concerts by sponsoring a concert in our last season. And many more thanks to all our 2017-18 sponsors. The corporate sponsors are AltBerg Boots, Gale & Phillipson, and Millgate House & Garden, and we do hope that all our regulars will give those local firms their business whenever possible. The individuals are returning benefactors David and Angelica Carr, and Peter Denison-Edson and Hazel Smith, as well as an anonymous Richmond-based newcomer. Many, many thanks to all of them, and we hope they get a great deal of pleasure from supporting 'their' artists.

If you are thinking of sponsoring a future concert, it's never too soon to put down a marker. Just take a look at this page, then drop a line to Nick Reckert, chair@rsconcerts.org.

It's always the final yard that's the hardest... But now our Concert Secretary, Anna Jackson, has signed off her negotiations with artists and agents, and our 70th anniversary programme is up on this website for all to see - and it's a good one. Just click the Concerts and Tickets link above for details.

The Carducci Quartet, on its sixth visit to the Richmondshire Concerts, delivered an exceptional evening. All the usual skills were there: extraordinary, almost telepathic cohesion; smooth, warm melodic lines; moments of raw anguish, particularly in Shostakovich's 11th Quartet; lightning-fast baton-passing along the line from first violin to cello... Just when you think these musicians are at their peak, they get even better.

It was telling that many in the large audience were suffering from spring colds, yet the auditorium was rapturously silent during the concert - quite spellbound.

This was a fine end to a fine season, and we can't wait for a seventh visit. 

Update, 3 April: the musicians clearly had fun too. "Greatly enjoyed performing for Richmondshire Concerts yesterday - wonderful audience and atmosphere!"