ALL things being equal there shouldn't be an empty seat anywhere in the Westmorland Hall for the BBC Philharmonic's St Valentine's Day concert at Kendal Leisure Centre.

If last year's visit by the BBC Phil is anything to go by the February 14 event really will be another of those golden moments in the Lakeland Sinfonia Concert Society series calendar.

Before that though is another LSCS performance that has musical excellence written right across it - this Saturday's (January 31, 7.30pm) concert by the Royal Northern Sinfonia.

Directed by violinist Kyra Humphreys, the ensemble is one of the most admired in the land and a huge crowd puller.

Soloist for the concert will be clarinettist Timothy Orpen in a programme including Copland's Clarinet Concerto, Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber, and Mozart's Violin Concerto No 4 and Symphony No 29 in A.

Kyra is an accomplished orchestral and chamber musician. She has performed with most of the major UK symphony and chamber orchestras and appeared as guest leader with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. She has appeared as a soloist in the BBC Proms and performed in music festivals around the world. Since 1998 Kyra has been the RNS co-leader and has appeared as director and soloist with the orchestra on numerous occasions, performing a wide repertoire.

Timothy joined the Royal Northern Sinfonia as principal clarinet in 2013 and has been described as a ‘blazing talent’ by The Times and as ‘one of the best young British musicians today’ by The Telegraph.

Lakeland Sinfonia Concert Society has been bringing high-quality classical orchestral music to Kendal for 40 years.

The society held a gala concert in May 1982 at the opening of the Kendal Leisure Centre, and concerts have been in the centre's Westmorland Hall ever since.

Many well-known and distinguished artists have graced its stage - Dimitri Alexeev, Imogen Cooper, Emma Johnson, Nigel Kennedy, Julian Lloyd Webber, Simon Rattle, Freddy Kempf, Nicola Benedetti, Angela Hewitt, Thomas Zehetmair and Sir Mark Elder, just to name a few.

The society also has its own orchestra, the Lakeland Sinfonia, which plays two of the subscription concerts each season. The ensemble is managed by Stella Fitzgerald, and the librarian is Peter Crompton.

For tickets and further information telephone 01539-722533.