Bergen Norway

With an acclaimed local orchestra, music is everywhere in this city and its most famous composer is never far away, finds Jeremy Pound

-  Jeremy Pound

Before he raises his baton for Verdi's Requiem, Edward Gardner, chief conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, is keen to point out the number of gifted schoolchildren who are performing at the Grieghallen this evening, not just in the vast chorus at the back of the stage, but also playing alongside the professionals in the orchestral seats, no less. 'Not bad for a city with a population smaller than Northampton!' he enthuses. Half of me is impressed that so many of this Norwegian audience seem to know where Northampton is; another part wants to leap to the East Midlands town's defence - with composers such as Malcolm Arnold and Edmund Rubbra among its famous sons, it is no musical desert.