(Were you at last night's recital by Craig Ogden on guitar and Miloš Milivojević on accordion? If so you'll know that the audience was enthusiastically won over by the combination of instruments. Fabulous...)

Also, if you were there, you may have heard Craig Ogden's unprompted comments: "...a beautiful venue...a lovely acoustic". He then unplugged his amplifier, as it wasn't needed.

We in the audience may sometimes take the venue for granted, but time after time we hear praise from visiting artists (Royal Northern Sinfonia, most recently) for the wonderful acoustic. So, forget those occasions when torrential rain is thundering on the roof, or Guy Fawkes fireworks are going off, or the Cricket Club is hosting a very loud wedding disco; most of the time we're privileged to enjoy a venue with comfortable seats, uninterrupted sight-lines and, best of all, excellent sound qualities for chamber concerts.

If you enjoyed our Royal Northern Sinfonia concert in October, you'll be glad to welcome the orchestra back again for Christmas by Candlelight, a seasonal celebration in St Mary's Church at 7:30pm on 6 December (St. Nicholas' Day - how appropriate). The programme includes 'Winter' from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, as well as contrasting classical favourites. 

Tickets are £15 for adults, £5 for under-18s. Click here to go to Sage Gateshead's booking site. This is not a Richmondshire Concerts event.