Any concert involving talented young musicians is a cause for celebration and this evening showcasing the talents of Tait Scholars and other young Australian musicians, currently studying or based in London, was indeed such a one. The programme started with the challenges of Mozart and Wagner and continued with considerable élan via Bernstein and Barber to the stimulating joys of Malcolm Williamson and Luke Styles.

The venue was the wonderful baroque church of Saint John in Smith Square, Westminster. It is a stunning building and although now an established concert hall is not always an easy environment for orchestral players. The biggest challenge for the Tait Chamber Orchestra was the platform layout which at times left conductor Jessica Cottis so far upstage that no amount of subtle, and in Cottis’ case extremely graceful, half-turning could allow her to connect with the soloists at the front of the stage. This sense of being disconnected unfortunately seemed to spread to the orchestra’s response to its conductor for, despite their synchronicity, at some points the impression was of several talented musicians playing together but not as an emotionally connected group. There could be any number of explanations for this anomaly and that it...