Ulster Youth Choir

The BBC Radio 3 Summer Invitation Concert in Belfast's Ulster Hall was splendid last night. I arrived slightly later than usual, because I lay down on the bed and, when I looked at the clock, it was seven o'clock!

The conductor was Howard Shelley OBE; and the programme included works by Delius, Vaughan Williams, Parry, Stanford and Alice Mary Smith. I particularly enjoyed Vaughan Williams' English Folksong Suite, because it was evocative of Ulster Television's golden days under Brum Henderson, when the same folksongs were often played during interludes.

There was no sign of Bandanna Man:: perhaps he was enjoying himself on the fiddle, holidaying in Romania!

The female chorus of the Ulster Youth Choir performed brilliantly, I thought. There must have been about thirty of them, and they stood in front of the Grand Mulholland Organ.

Needless to say, the Ulster Orchestra was as excellent as ever. I was able to read the time from either a cellist or double bassist's watch (which read 9:15 when I saw it), which had been placed beside the music sheet - that's how good my eyesight now is, having been lasered.