The Brighton Festival, any festival, is about discovering new things. For that reason I found myself on a Tuesday lunchtime watching the Cavaleri Quartet performing three pieces which covered a wide spectrum of different styles and were thus fairly challenging for the listener. Especially this listener, who is more at home with rock, blues and folk.

The musicians themselves were much younger than their audience and their performance was both passionate and dramatic.

Frank Bridge’s Three Idylls was the first piece. Jonathan Harvey’s String Quartet No 3 followed. Janacek’s Intimate Letters ended the concert.

The three pieces displayed virtuoso playing in very different ways. This was the equivalent of a band playing prog rock, jazz and soul in the same show. The generosity of spirit and range of musical textures was wonderfully uplifting.

What the classical world might learn from other musical cultures is presentation. The music isn’t dull and sombre, so why the performing uniform of black clothes, the tea shop etiquette and the total lack of lighting?

Will classical please come in from the past and make itself more easily accessible to a younger audience, thereby embracing its inspirational spirit and lapping up the amazing technique and diversity.