Sheffield UK

Claire Jackson visits the city's Chamber Music Festival where, at The Crucible, the click clack of snooker balls gives way to intimate harmony

- Claire Jackson

Sheffield City Hall is inscribed with the words ‘made of steel, made of stars’. The Yorkshire capital is famous for its industrial roots – and for its associations with the World Snooker Championship, which has taken place at The Crucible since 1977. Tonight, we encircle a piano, rather than the hallowed baize: Music in the Round – organisers of the annual Sheffield Chamber Music Festival, among other events – makes the most of the theatre’s format, with performances given from the centre of the room as a matter of course. It’s the ideal way to experience the most intimate of art forms, from piano quintets to string trios. The aptly named Ensemble 360 is virtually within touching distance of the front seats; the grand piano is without its lid so that no sight lines are blocked. When we return to the hall after the interval, the piano has been turned 180 degrees, so that we experience an alternative view of Tim Horton’s excellent playing.

The ‘in the round’ principal applies to other venues, too. At the Samuel Worth Chapel, we settle into a makeshift circle, clutching coffee and munching croissants. It’s an unusual pre-concert snack, but nothing is usual about this recital. The venue is nestled in a charmingly overgrown cemetery, where blackbirds call among dewy blossom. Daylight is gently flooding into the large, candle-lit windows – it’s 5am. Horn-player Naomi Atherton plays Tansy Davies’s