A SPECTACULAR fireworks finale set to the best of British classics by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, brought the Upton House Music Festival to a dramatic and colourful close last night.

The patriotic celebration, a fitting tribute on the evening of the Queen’s official 90th birthday, featured some fervent flag-waving and a good sing-along despite the threat of heavy rain, which fortunately was confined to a downpour just before the show started and during the interval!

Presenter Catherine Bott, the likeable British soprano and Classic FM broadcaster, helped to create a party mood, while conductor Frank Zielhorst presided over a programme of concert favourites which took us around the world in the first half starting with Russia’s Shostakovich and his Festive Overture followed by the rousing Finlandia by Sibelius.

But it was Strauss and his Radetzky March and Rossini’s ever popular William Tell Overture which got the audience clapping along before we moved on to Tchaikovsky’s wonderful Eugene Onegin: Waltz and Polonaise before arriving in Hollywood with the spine tingling Star Wars Main Theme by John Williams.

No sooner had the orchestra left the stage following the first half, then the heavens opened once more and many festival goers had to abandon their picnics as they rushed to find refuge under trees and umbrellas.

But the intermittent wet weather certainly didn’t dampen the mood in the second half, as the audience danced, clapped and sang with ever more gusto to stirring British classics such as Fantasia on British Sea Songs (including Rule Britannia), Jerusalem and Pomp & Circumstance March No1 which were literally brought to light by an impressive display of lasers, lights and fireworks.

The spine-tingling Dambusters March by Coates provided a suitable grand finale. All in all a solid, victorious performance in the face of a typically unpredictable British summer!