After a record-breaking year which witnessed the first-ever Grayshott performance of Beethoven's 'Eroica' Symphony and the appointment of Karl Jenkins, the world's most successful living composer, as Patron, Grayshott Concerts is now aiming for even dizzier heights.

Concerts' artistic director, Vivien Harrison, tells 'Grayshott.com', "People say that there hasn't been a full scale performance in Grayshott of Handel's masterpiece, 'Messiah', in living memory, so we're putting that right on Saturday 20th March at St Luke's Church, performed by Excelsis with a stunning line-up of soloists together with another Grayshott innovation, the Grayshott Baroque Orchestra, conducted by Robert Lewis."

The community concert promoters, with a reputation for top quality performances and sell-out attendances, now attract concert-goers from throughout the district. Organisers believe that few towns and cities in the region offer a more ambitious programme of classical music.

And now the group are finalising plans to present Brahms 1st Symphony, on Saturday 15th May, with their biggest ever orchestra of 44 musicians, in a programme which includes the welcome return of Martin Smith, to perform Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, one of the most popular concertos of all time, with the New London Sinfonia under David Gibson.

To cap the year, Mrs Harrison has succeeded in attracting star pianist, Howard Shelley, with a tally of almost 150 acclaimed CDs, to return to Grayshott on Saturday 11th September to play Beethoven's 'Emperor' Piano Concerto and to conduct Prokofiev's 'Classical' Symphony and Mendelssohn's 4th Symphony ('Italian') with the London Mozart Players.

Chairman, Anthony Ramsden, says: "This is an astonishing programme by any standards and just wouldn't be possible without the support of our sponsors Applegarth Farm and Huntington House. Music-lovers are very grateful to them both."

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