COMPOSER Andy Jackson and a host of musicians set about rediscovering the beauty of silence last night - by performing in a library.

Music lovers were invited to sit quietly throughout the one-off performance of Playing With Silence, in an exploration of how the ever-diminishing lack of noise in the world plays a part in music.

Andy, an outreach worker with the Northern Sinfonia, even brought in special "shusherettes" to ensure the audience maintained the silence in between pieces and didn't applaud until the end.

"It's hopefully looking at it in quite a light and fun way, although some of the issues raised are quite serious," said Andy, who lives in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, having travelled the world studying and writing about music from different cultures in the past.

The performance was given added poignancy by being staged in the library of Bishop Auckland Town Hall.

"We still have this image of libraries being quiet places, but they are not quiet at all," said Andy, whose youngest daughter Bridie, 17, was among the performers, and eldest daughter Kit, 19, was a shusherette.

"Libraries were one of those places that used to be thought of as a special place and you could be quiet there. It's certainly not the case anymore."

As well as the live performance and electronic sampling of pieces Andy has composed in the past, background noise and other elements were also brought together in the experiment