MUSIC has the capacity to do many things.

It was a coincidence of timing but there could not have been a more appropriate piece of music with which to open the BSO’s annual benevolent concert than Mozart’s Requiem, given the events in Manchester.

The BSO and the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus came together under the baton of BSC chorus master, Gavin Carr, to produce an afternoon of poignancy and emotion.

Carr spoke of the terror attack as beyond comprehension. “We offer the music of Mozart’s Requiem that surely speaks to our hopes and fears and the desire for solace and consolation,” he said. A minute’s silence was observed.

Mozart died before being able to finish this epic and his pupil Franz Sussmayr completed it from the sketches he left behind.

The Requiem has held a huge influence since its first performance on Vienna in 1793 and the spellbinding performance at the Lighthouse seemed to be infused with even more pathos and significance.

The mood was lifted in the second half with pieces guaranteed to be on many concert goers list of favourites.

The utterly charming waltz and polonaise from Tchaikovsky’s colourful Eugene Onegin.

Then, Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances from his masterpiece opera Prince Igor, bright, sophisticated, exotic and distinctive.

It was the perfect showcase for both orchestra and wonderfully talented chorus, founded by Dan Godfrey in 1911 and long enjoying a well deserved global reputation.

This special afternoon ended with Tchaikovsky’s rousing 1812 Overture, always a safe bet for leaving an audience enthused, infused and appreciating the magical powers of classical music.