From concerts secretary Graham Merriam

Living up to his star billing, Martin Roscoe duly delivered a stunning recital of music that many of the audience knew but discovered nooks and crannies that perhaps they had not appreciated before. Powerful yet tender, whimsical and persuasive, this concert had everything and must rank up there with one of the best recitals we have been privileged to host at Sowerby Music. It also reinforces the fact that, in music like everything else, we should always aim for the best and, in recognition of that fact, 140 of you enthusiastically attended the concert.

On that subject, Alex Dariescu, another of our fine pianist guests, has recently been booked to play no fewer than eight concertos over the next few months with good orchestras including three in Germany – a sure sign that persistence is as important as brilliance in her attempts to move into the senior league. She returns to us next year and I am glad to report that she has a special affection for Sowerby Music which is duly reflected in the fee! Last week she was playing Rachmaninov 2 in Dartford with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by our good friend Simon Wright!

Those that are following BBC Young Musician will no doubt have spotted Yuanfan Yang winning the piano section. He appeared at Sowerby as an 11-year-old in 2008. At the time he was with Yorkshire Young Musicians before transferring to Chethams. Laura Van Der Heijden – the stunning 14-year-old cellist – won the strings category and has appeared in Sowerby as part of the Pro Corda ensemble directed by Penny Stirling; her tutor is Leonid Gorokhov who has appeared at Sowerby three times. My challenge is to get all these wonderful artists to return in some form or other – we aim for the best.

And now for something completely different:

This is a joyous, fun–loving and extremely able ensemble that has appeared with us before in the guise of Lowry Brass Ensemble. They were very good then and will be very good again. A must for all brass players and lovers of a good night out this will be highly–polished playing on, no–doubt, highly–polished instruments with Ben Thomson as MC. Ben, like most brass players has a good line in informed and witty repartee which adds to the fun of the occasion; it is quite deliberate – it gives the ensemble’s lips a chance to recover! Horovitz? The same that wrote “Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo” Please do not pass this by on the grounds that it is not a piano recital or a string quartet. Although they lean more on the side of the popular rather than cutting–edge new compositions, this brass quintet is capable of extraordinary delicacy, virtuosity and tenderness as well as the physicality of the noisy bits and, with a huge range of music much of it necessarily in arrangement form, you will hear a lot of familiar tunes dressed up in new clothes. Bring someone along who might not ordinarily come to Sowerby Music. Next year is now pretty well finalised and plans are already afoot for 2013–2014 when we will continue to serve up high quality, affordable music that appeals to a huge spectrum of people. Thank you for your continued support that enables us to book these fine artists.

Best wishes