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Celebrating the music of an iconic family that bridged the height of the Baroque period with the Classical era, conductor Christopher Gray and his Three Spires Singers set the evening ablaze with J.S. Bach's Magnificat and two works by the composer's prodigious children: the Sinfonia Concertante in A by J.C. Bach and C.P.E Bach's exuberant Magnificat.

A place of worship was the stage; stained glass windows cast light on a choir that massed over a hundred and sixty members, and the Truro Symphony Orchestra, led by Martin Palmer and heralded by soprano Claire Seaton, mezzo Susanna Spicer, tenor Anthony Mee, and bass Edward Price wrought tragedy and triumph out of a magnificent performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Messa da Requiem at Truro Cathedral.

Drawing an end to a season of vigorous study under some of the world's leading maestri, the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove presented their penultimate concert in Truro School Chapel with a steadfast sense of achievement that derived from the fruit of labour combined with an eternal passion for music.

The vibrant tapestry of the orchestra – the most expansively diverse of ensembles – can convey anything from the innermost reaches of the psyche to vast landscapes of endless imaginative scope. Surely the genius of late Romantic Russian society found his voice through this medium, whose glorious Violin Concerto in D major and Symphony No.

Luring England's David Briggs back to his native soil and under the soaring arches of Truro Cathedral is hardly a monumental feat when tempted by the works of Fauré, Poulenc and Charpentier, as well as a performance of his own Requiem.

It is inevitable that one of the most beloved of orchestral instruments, the cello, will entice a diverse crowd of enthusiastic concertgoers – and that even in the midst of a recession, there prevails an inherent desire to depart from the self now and then for a ritualistic celebration of great music.