In the face of the increasing costs we read about every day, Lemington Music Festival's artistic director, Richard Phillips and his team delivered five days of magical music marking this 15th Festival in Leamington.

With birthday celebrations of the works of Robin Holloway (born in Leamington in 1943) and Rachmaninov (born in 1873), this festival brought some of the very finest musicians from the UK and Europe to the Pump Room.

With a Faziola concert grand in place, piano performances were the centre of attention.

Michael Mc Hale was full of praise for the Faziola having played Shostakovich's Piano Quintet in G minor.

So, too, Tim Horton, following his truly ferocious performance of Arensky's Piano Trio in D minor.

Four hands with Tanya Avchinnikova and Roman Kosykov delivered a robust Mozart Sonata and most moving performances of works by Glière and Schubert.

Innovations this year included a late night piano soirée in Viv McLean's hands, playing works by Chopin and Grieg, finishing with Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.

Pleasingly, the event attracted an audience not frequently seen at daytime concerts.

This innovation will be a must again next year.

Highlight for many was the return visit, after an absence of four years, of Russian-born, Andrey Gugnin.

Having taken an anti-war stance he now lives in Zagreb, working across Europe and the Far East. He delivered a event to be lodged in people's memory bank; an astonishing display of keyboard skill in the Preludes Op 32 by Rachmaninov and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

Responsible for turning out the lights of the festival, the Sacconi String Quartet played a very measured and sensitive interpretation of Schubert's 'Death and the Maiden'.

Jon Boden, founder of Bellowhead wrote their encore, Old Millie Oxford.

What a segue to a review of Warwick Folk Festival? Superb.