Maltese violinist Carmine Lauri, co-leader of the London Symphony Orchestra, last Monday, saved at short notice, the Gala Russian Music Concert at the Symphony Hall in Birmingham.

At midnight on Sunday, the phone at Lauri's London flat rang, bringing an urgent request from the concert organisers of Birmingham's Symphony Hall, to substitute for the indisposed soloist and play Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto.

Sixteen hours later, the Maltese virtuoso was facing a full house at what is considered to be the UK's finest concert hall and one of the best in the world, a position it still retains today.

The auditorium is a model of modern concert hall design and the superb acoustics are the benchmark by which all new concert halls are measured. In 2001, the Hall was completed with the installation of the 6,000-pipe symphony organ.

The programme, conducted by Simon Wright, included the overture to Glinka's Russlan and Ludmilla, the Great Gate of Kiev by Mussorgsky, Borodin's Polovtsan Dances, the Adagio from Khachaturian's Spartacus ballet suite, Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Op. 35, the finale from Swan Lake and the 1812 Festival Overture.

Lauri will be in Malta towards the end of this month to play the Tchaikovsky violin concerto with the National Orchestra augmented for this occasion by members of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert will be held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta, under the Canadian-Maltese conductor Charles Olivieri-Munroe.

For further details visit the National Orchestra Website: www.maltaorchestra.com