Last time I attended a Darlington Orchestra concert, they were performing for the last time in the Darlington Arts Centre, and without a concert venue, their future was in doubt.

Happily the orchestra have now found a new home under the chandeliers of the Dolphin Centre’s Central Hall, and celebrated last night (Saturday, January 26) with a colourful display of orchestral fireworks.

The concert opened with a majestic arrangement by A Benoy of music from William Boyce’s Royal Birthday Odes. This full orchestral arrangement of music that was originally written for much smaller forces was both simple and effective, and the Darlington Orchestra delivered it with style, with lovely warm playing from the lower strings giving the music a powerful depth.

The dignified opening soon gave way to much livelier pieces, including a fiendishly fast Scherzo by Tchaikovsky and Liszt’s famous Hungarian Rhapsody No 2, and the audience enthusiastically clapped along to an exuberant rendition of Offenbach’s famous Can-Can from Orpheus in the Underworld.

We were also invited to join in with clapping and finger-clicks in the second half, although with a strict warning from conductor David Plews that he would dictate the speed of the acceleration in the sailor’s hornpipe, familiar to many from its inclusion in the Last Night of the Proms.

This relaxed atmosphere created by the orchestra makes every member of the audience feel warmly included in the evening, and is something quite special.

The orchestra’s guest performers for this concert were the boys of the Locomotion Choir, with guitarist Tony Kilpatrick. Their selection of popular songs included two lovely solos, and some accomplished harmony singing.

A peaceful medley of Simon and Garfunkel songs by the orchestra provided a nice contrast, before a finale of Broadway Showstopers. After the uncertainty of the past few months, the Darlington Orchestra are clearly determined that the show will go on.

Jane Shuttleworth