It was not their first appearance there, that was in June, but with the Mayor ,Councillor Ms Irene Walsh, present to give them a send off with a brief address, it may be called the City of Peterborough Symphony Orchestra’s inaugural concert at the Voyager.

And what a concert! From start to finish their conductor Paul Hilliam achieved at will the gamut of expression from full vibrant warmth of full orchestra to disciplined string pizzicato partnering the plangent harp, from almost threatening crescendos to tightly disciplined but shattering brass fanfares. The CPSO today handles what comes its way with inspired professionalism. A specific example: in Walton’s Spitfire Prelude and Fugue, the strings soared through the demanding exposed thematic entries of the fugue with assurance and vitality.

Internationally famed cellist Tim Gill performed Dvorak’s cello concerto with a clean vigorous tone, a leaping vigour and an intent and serious passion that, for me, brought out a new genius in what I thought was a familiar work. In one passage, orchestra Leader Angus Gibbon accompanied him in inspired “a duo” mode.

At the end of Vaughan Williams’s 2nd symphony, ‘the London’, in which the lead viola has extended solo passages, Paul Hilliam called her to her feet for special applause and then other section leaders in the wind of outstanding individual performances: how fortunate is the CPSO that members its players can step up with such distinction when asked to.

The Mayor told us that the auditorium had been designed as concert hall to a centre for the performing arts. It certainly has the presence and a fine acoustic but also, ample parking and a spacious refreshments bar for that chat before ‘curtain up’ or during the interval. If CPSO are able to make it their home venue, as I believe they are, they will be fortunate, the Voyager would surely benefit with such a distinguished ‘house orchestra’, and Peterborough would be very lucky.

Geoffrey Hindley