When I first saw the programme I thought, "Oh, usual Classic FM sort of stuff", and then I saw:

Ian Bostridge/Julius Drake doing Schumann and Britten.

War Requiem with German and English forces (Bostridge again).

Andreas Scholl singing Handel.

Paul Lewis playing Beethoven and more.

And for those who like that sort of thing, Bryn Terfel singing "classical favourites and popular song". Double the price of the other concerts for some reason.

Big names like these usually go to Manchester if they come North at all. This is all something to do with the Capital of Culture thing, as of course is the long awaited Simon Rattle and Berlin Phil (Autumn 2008).

The attendance has rocketed since the appointment of Vasili Petrenko as conductor - partly, I'm afraid, because he is young (30) and very good-looking, and has been marketed like mad. He is, however, an excellent conductor as well, rather better than Pesek at some things, and a LOT better than Gerard Schwarz, who was not popular.

Subsidies are, of course, inadequate, though I can't give figures. The LibDem Liverpool council does contribute, but last thing I heard Wirral council didn't, which is bad because a large proportion of the audience comes from Wirral.

2008 Capital of Culture is, I'm sure, the reason that the people I've mentioned are coming. Bostridge hasn't been to Liverpool for at least ten years, Simon Rattle hasn't been back (he comes from Liverpool) for a very long time. As far as I know, Andreas Scholl has never appeared there.

One reason why the song recitals (my idea of bliss) are scheduled is that the very beautiful small concert room in St George's Hall has been refurbished after many years under wraps. It's the perfect place for chamber music of all types, something that Liverpool has lacked.

The audience, on the whole, isn't very adventurous. They tend to like things they know, a problem everywhere, I suspect!