'Orchestra dell'Arte' 6strings, 5 birds and a symphony, from Southport to Liverpool

NOW in its 5th season, the Cake and Classical lunchtime concerts at the Atkinson Centre, on Lord Street, Southport, have become a real institution. The series features a great variety of music and a host of amazing performers. Attendees are regaled not only with fantastic music, but also with a gigantic piece of cake and tea or coffee! Cake and Classical concerts are usually on the 1st Monday of each month; with doors opening at 1230 and the music starting at 1pm; but do not forget to get there early, and get your cake!

The January concert featured a fabulous guitarist, Jon Gjylaci, and he will be appearing shortly in Liverpool:- if you missed him in Southport do come along to Liverpool.

The Cake and Classical series is organised by the remarkable Orchestra dell'Arte. This ensemble, now coming up to its tenth anniversary season, is no stranger to Southport, having played concerts at the Atkinson Theatre and at Holy Trinity. The orchestra are to be found at many venues in the North West and they appear as the Orchestra of St George's Hall in Liverpool. The Liverpool concerts feature world class soloists and are a wonderful mix of music together with musical examples and amazing tales from the inside story of each piece.

The sounds of nature have inspired many composers and such music has the power to transport us to another place and time. In the concert at St George's Hall in Liverpool, on Sunday, 24 February 2019, the Orchestra dell'Arte will do just that in this programme of wonderfully evocative music.

The splendour of the gardens of the Palacio Real de Aranjuez in Spain is the inspiration and setting for the famous Concierto de Aranjuez by the Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo.

The haunting theme of the 2nd movement, played in the orchestra by the Cor Anglais, never fails to move the listener and to generate a feeling of quiet contemplation. The soloist in the Concierto will be the Albanian guitar virtuoso Jon Gjylaci.

The Italian composer Ottorino Respighi is known for writing monumental tone poems such as Pines of Rome; in this concert Respighi will beguile with his Gli Uccelli (The Birds). Always showing a restrained hand, the composer paints 5 exquisite miniature portraits.

Frederick Delius is always at home in the wide open spaces of the countryside and in his 2 Pieces for Small Orchestra the composer regales us with tantalising glimpses of the cuckoo and the balmy evening trip in a small boat down a sleepy river.

The frothy and joyous fifth symphony by Schubert brings this concert to a satisfyingly elegant conclusion. The concert starts at 3pm, tickets are ₤12.50 from:- DellArte.Co.UK or pay at the door.

New phase of ₤22m dual carriageway in North Liverpool to begin

FROM Monday, 4 February 2019, will see the closure of the Liverpool City Centre bound lane, on Great Howard Street (A565) as a new phase starts in the creation of a ₤22m dual carriageway into Liverpool, for up to 4 weeks. The inbound (City Centre bound) closure will come into effect from 9.30am between Blackstone Street and Leeds Street to allow for a deep excavation to support underling utility connections and to enable drainage surveys. A diversion on Boundary Street (A5054) to Vauxhall Road (A5038) will be in place. Commuters and road users travelling in to Liverpool from Bootle are advised to anticipate delays and guided to use alternative corridors into the City Centre; such as Regent Road and Stanley Road.

The dual carriageway scheme has been funded by the Local Growth Fund (LGF). Local Growth Funding is awarded to the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and invested through the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority through its Strategic Investment Fund. This overall investment package of road improvements in the North Liverpool area is worth more than ₤100m and is a key element of Liverpool City Council's ₤500m Better Roads programme to invest in the city's highways network. The works are also seen as crucial to the development of surrounding major regeneration schemes such as the Ten Streets creativity district and Everton FC's proposed new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock in Liverpool Waters. Earlier phases on the A565 scheme included a new bridge, which was designed to support freight traffic for the Liverpool Superport and a new wall to improve access to the historic Stanley Flight canal lock system, which sits within Liverpool's World Heritage site.

In advance of the closure, Councillor James Noakes, Cabinet Member for Highways, said:- "The North Liverpool corridor is a hugely complex highways scheme involving an immense amount of engineering works on two major roads at the same time. To ensure traffic flows this scheme can only be carried out by a phased approach which means some weeks there are full road closures and some weeks just lane closures. We really appreciate the patience of motorists as these essential works are carried out and fortunately there are other alternative routes. Of course, schemes of this nature cause disruption, but the long term gains of this investment in North Liverpool's infrastructure are going to help redefine our City's economic future."

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'Orchestra dell'Arte' 6strings, 5 birds and a symphony, from Southport to Liverpool

New phase of ₤22m dual carriageway in North Liverpool to begin