I hadn’t seen a full orchestra in the Sheldonian before, so filing in past the harp, kettle drums and the like, I was struck by how little the audience seemed to outnumber the performers (although since it is tiered, the capacity is more than it looks - actually 1,000). Nevertheless it felt such an intimate venue for such grand music; almost “in the round”.

The evening – a well-structured programme by Oxford Philomusica - began with a piece by Bruch (Kol Nidrei), an excellent showcase for the superb cellist Mats Lidström. The physicality of his richly resonant performance was astonishing. Aggressive attacks, with his own effort audible over the sounds of the instrument, yielded to surging passages of lyricism. It was passionate, tragic, dark Romanticism at its best.

Paganini’s Violin Concerto No.1 followed, helmed by Natalia Lomeiko. This was stunning stuff, truly a virtuosic box of tricks. Since the composer’s own reputation suggests as much, with satanic associations and wild living, it wouldn’t be too facile to cast him as a rockstar for his age. The piece is crammed with dazzling, showy riffs, whereby the original, folk-song motifs seem to drop away entirely, leaving the orchestra silenced and the muscular, minutely calibrated arpeggios flying untethered. By turns capricious and downright blistering, her leaping displays were thrilling to witness.

No mention yet of the wonderful conductor, who is such a pleasure to watch. With his wonderful mane of hair and dynamic presence, Marios Papadopoulos is every part the classical conductor of popular representation.

He excelled with Dvořák’s Symphony No.9, better known as The New World Symphony which, aside from the familiar and yearning Hovis theme, abounds with many other strident, magisterial motifs that perfectly describe the sense of awe and adventure that accompanied America’s colonisation. That said, there remains much debate about just how American this is, given the composer’s many cultural influences prior to moving to the US, but to today’s audience the piece carries a visual quality recalling the Great Plains and every Western movie ever made - and I was surprised to recognise Serge Gainsbourg’s Initial’s B.B in the first movement! Making spectacular use of the excellent orchestra throughout, the final refrains ended the evening on an exquisite note.

Being such an historic, unmodernised building, the Sheldonian is known for being somewhat uncomfortable for its audiences, but this was such an engaging and varied programme, and the ensemble of such high quality, I’d urge anybody to go there and enjoy this refined and highly accomplished Orchestra In Residence. I opted to sit out the drinks at the interval, and instead marvel at the beautiful ceiling. Wonderful.