On Tuesday, July 31, St. Mary's Church in Tenby was honoured to welcome the New Cologne Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra to give a concert that evening. Whilst being an established brand name and having a German base, the group is both youthful and international, comprising young musicians from all over Europe: the violinists Matteo Marzaro, of Italy (also leader), Michael Chidell, of Germany and England, and Matesz Zuzanski, of Poland; the violist Jurate Cickeviciute of Lithuania; the 'cellist Allessandro Menegardi, of Italy; the contrabassist Jan Mathiasson, of Sweden; the harpsichordist Audrone Urbutyt, of Lithuania; and the flautist Eva Tonemann, of Germany. With the church filled by an expectant audience, the concert began at 7.30 pm with a brief word of welcome to both audience and orchestra from Andrew Cusworth before the musicians took their places to give an enervating performance of Antonio Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in B flat Major, Op.8, No.5. The highly virtuosic violin solo was played with tremendous flair by the group's leader, violinist Matteo Marzaro. This was followed by the music of another great composer of the baroque period, Johann Sebastian Bach. The Second Orchestral Suite for Flute, Stings, and Basso Continuo is one of Bach's more famous works, though one most often hears only the closing 'Badinerie'. Here it was performed with great style and verve, with the group's flautist, Eva Tonemann, giving a finely detailed and vivacious account of the score. The first half of the programme was closed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's daintily humorous Divertimento for strings No.3 in Bb major. After a brief interval, the concert resumed with a performance of the 'Cello Concerto in B flat Major by Luigi Boccherini, which is an intricate work that engages both soloist and orchestra in rapid passagework and cheerful melodies in the outer movements, and in the more lyrical mood for which the 'cello is so well loved in the slow middle movement. Both of these were captured with apparent ease by the orchestra's cellist, Allessandro Menegardi. One of Edward Elgar's best loved works followed: the E minor Serenade for Strings Op.20. Opening with a wonderfully intoned viola passage, this was a captivating performance, made more so by the size of the group and the personal approach this facilitated. The final programmed item was the Sonata for strings No.3 in C major by Gioachinno Rossini: a bubbling work in three movements that would have provided a fine end to the concert. Following the applause, and after a brief word with the orchestra's leader, Andrew Cusworth said a few words of thanks to the orchestra, expressing that the audience had "been privileged to witness something of what music is truly about: the audience being drawn in and sharing the life and personality that musicians such as these give to the notes on the page." And, as he himself said, thankfully the concert was to end with music rather than words, for after encouraging the audience to thank the musicians for welcoming them into their musical lives, he announced that there would be an encore. This was an Adagio by Giuseppe Tartini for violin and strings, and the solo part was played once more by Matteo Marzaro with extraordinary tenderness and eloquence. And, after much further applause, the orchestra gave one final rendition of the popular Badinerie from the Bach Suite heard earlier, which included all eight players, and was thus a fitting end to a performance that had demonstrated such enormous community and communication between the musicians. It goes without saying that all present were delighted by the performance, and were effusive in expressing both this and their grateful thanks to the musicians and organisers for presenting the concert. This weekend there will be another opportunity to hear a fine young musician at St. Mary's Church, when a violin recital will be given by Jamie Hutchinson at 8 pm on Sunday, August 12. Andrew Cusworth