THE Hereford Concert Society's president, Nicholas Daniel, will be appearing as both conductor and soloist at the last concert of the society's present season on May 18 at The Courtyard. He will be conducting The English String Orchestra in a varied programme and also appearing as a soloist, but on the cor anglais, in the Adagio for cor anglais and strings by Mozart.

His musicianship, stage presence and charisma make him an effective conductor and to date he has made appearances with the Britten Sinfonia, The English Chamber Orchestra, the City of London Sinfonia, as well as appearances with various European chamber orchestras. He is, of course, still a leading oboist and has made over 20 CDs for, among others, Chandos, Hyperion and Virgin.

The Finzi Clarinet Concerto will have as its soloist, Joy Farrall. She is a highly successful clarinettist both as a soloist and as a chamber music player, mainly with The Haffner Wind Ensemble, of which she is a founder member. She has great enthusiasm for new music and has had many new works written for and dedicated to her by composers such as Oliver Knussen, John McCabe and Edward Cowie.

She has also had great critical success with her recordings and recently her recording of the Mozart Concerto for BMG Conifer went straight into the classical charts and is now a best-seller.

The English String Orchestra, resident in Malvern will be a familiar and welcome sight to Hereford audiences and as well as the Finzi concerto and Mozart Adagio, they will be playing the Mozart Divertimento in D.K.136 and the challenging Metamorphosen by Richard Strauss.

Tickets for this event may be obtained from The Courtyard, Edgar Street on 01432 359252.