Kelso Music Society celebrates its 70th anniversary with a concert this weekend

A solo flute and piano recital from Meera Maharaj and Dominic Degavino is to be held at Kelso Old Parish Hall from 7.30pm on Sunday, October 24.

Lucky youngsters at Kelso’s Castlegate Nursery are also to be treated to mini-concerts by the talented pair.

Sunday’s concert is the latest of more than 400 since the Kelso and District Music Society, as it was called originally, was first established in September 1951.

Tickets for the first concert were two shillings and six pence – 12.5 new pence.

For the first 20 years of the society’s existence, concerts took place in the Lesser Tait Hall before the transfer to the parish church, an octagonal Georgian building whose acoustics have been compared to the Wigmore Hall in London - regarded as the pinnacle of chamber music halls.

Famous names from down the last 70 years who have performed at Kelso Music Society include guitarist John Williams, harpist Marissa Robles, conductor Rudolph Schwarz, Russian pianist Nikolai Demidenko and Baroque pioneers Carl Dolmetsch and George Malcolm.

Singers include John Shirley Quirk, Edinburgh-born Catriona Morison, winner of Cardiff Singer of the World, groups such as the Melos ensemble and the Gabrieli String Quartet, and at least four winners or finalists of the BBC Young Musician of the Year.

The Society is always keen to support young artists, especially after 18 months without any work. Go to www.kelsomusicsociety.com for further details.