The 50th anniversary of the death of Ralph Vaughan Williams is marked by a performance of his Benedicite, with soprano soloist, Frances Brindley, who lives in Buxton.

The highlight of the evening, being held at St John's Church, Buxton, is a Elgar cello concerto with soloist Simon Webb, a fellow on the Clore Cultural Leadership programme 2007/8 who in August will take up the post of Director of Orchestral Management at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

A Cambridge graduate he studied cello as a post graduade with David Strange at the Royal Academy of Music in London and was a member of the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1996-2005 and chairman of the LPO's board of directors in 2001-2005.

He moved to Sheffield in 2005 to take the post of administrative director of Music in the Round where he was instrumental in the formation of Ensemble 360 and the Sheffield Music Academy.

Since September 2006 he has been freelance, programming the Sheffield International Concert series and the Five40Five series at Sheffield City Hall, devising and running Wired for Sound the music education programme at SICS, teaching the cello at the Sheffield Music Academy and working for the Arts Council across the Yorkshire and Humber region.

He is on the board of Manchester Camerata and had recently been invited to join the artistic advisory panel for the Northern Sinfonia.
Simon lives in Sheffield with his wife Shelagh and their three children Duncan, Elizabeth and Abigail.

Tickets are available from the Box Office, at Buxton Opera House, 01298 72190 or at the door on the night of the concert.