Obviously, the Orchestra of St John's are well used to performing in a church space; they are homed at St John's in Smith Square, Westminster, though they tour nationally and have a particularly strong tie to Oxfordshire. On this occasion they made what was apparently a late decision to perform in the chancel of St John Evangelist church rather than in the nave, which was an inspired notion: the chancel retains the bright acoustic of this finest among Oxford venues but is a much more intimate space, and one where they were able to make use of the handsome backdrop of the east end of the church and the ready-made staging of the altar steps.

It was exciting to hear such a sparkling performance of classical symphony and concerto in a space like this, and the interesting programming of some 20th Century songs was an ideal foil for these works. Jan Schmolck, leader of the orchestra gave a fine and redolent performance of the Mozart 5th Violin Concerto, while Hannah Nye did a magnificent job with Quilter's songs from Blake and Tennyson. The whole orchestra were faultless, inspired and graceful throughout, as we've come to expect from them.

I've said before that this is Oxford's most comfortable music venue - it also has a claim to being one of the most musically convincing too, and has a constant stream of interesting and hugely varied performances.