This weekend saw Husband, Baby and I get festive down at the Brighton Dome for a Christmas themed concert by the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra. A performance of three well-known (but not too flashy) delights spread over a couple of hours to get you in the seasonal swing of things.

The Dome is a blink and you’ll miss it kind of venue for me, I know its there but I never know how to get in it or why its different from the Corn Exchange right next door. Education was needed. We decided on the concert (or Williams, Blake, Tchaikovsky to give it it’s proper title) as a wedding anniversary present and thought it would be a kiddy friendly event to take Baby to.

The venue is a large round space with a pretty dome ceiling that opens out like petals, the stage is close to the seats and you really feel part of the action. In fact its remarkably intimate for such a large area. Staff were incredibly friendly and helpful – in fact one was happy to let me know that we could have got Baby in for just one pound, instead of the full price seat we paid for him! Thanks!

The audience was varied, of course there were plenty of children but all ages were present from Baby – who I think might have been the youngest - up to a huge amount of pensioners. The impressive looking orchestra were in regulation concert black and I loved looking at all the different instruments.

Baby was wearing his new red reindeer jumper and Husband and I were quite ready to be impressed and excited. The opening sparkles of William’s (now surely classic?) Harry Potter theme had Baby pointing into the air trying to ascertain where the magical notes came from. Tears immediately sprang to my eyes and stayed there throughout the performance. The beautiful piece, which I always associate with Christmas, was swiftly followed by Blake’s music for the ubiquitous winter wonder: Briggs’ The Snowman. Narration was provided by actor Michael Fenton-Stevens (Drop The Dead Donkey, Eastenders, Outnumbered) who breezed warmly through the magical words in a manner that reminded me of Derek Jacobi doing In The Night Garden (am a massive fan of both by the way!) The beautiful story weaved it’s magic and every tiny detail was picked out by the amazing musical score. Then as the Snowman and boy take flight the Brighton Festival Youth Choir stood up to sing ‘Walking In The Air’, by now the tears were flowing freely as I imagined my own boy having such imaginative adventures. It was moving and beautiful, Baby was transfixed.

Sadly however, as the time went on and we passed the interval and went into Act One of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker (another Christmas classic) Baby started getting a bit bored and started pasting his ice-cream all over the floor, trying to get Australia on my mobile phone and flipping up all the seats we had in our (luckily short and empty) row. Thankfully a helpful girl in the row behind played with him for a bit and they exchanged toys and giggles. Still we knew our time was up and regretfully we left before we got to the tingling chorus and swept Baby off for tea. We knew in a few years time we’d be back when he is old enough to appreciate it more.

But we got a great taste of what Brighton has to offer classical music fans as well as culture tourists like us who were looking for a festive treat. If I was able to go I would certainly go back to The Dome this week to enjoy The Four Seasons by Candlelight – a performance of Vivaldi’s masterpiece by the Mozart Festive Orchestra in full period costume (and wigs!) lit by candles. Dreamy.

The Brighton Dome calendar is full and varied and the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra have a lot of events coming up, they don’t only cater for the classical music connoisseur, everyone can recognise and enjoy their beautiful music. What about a celebratory New Year’s Eve Viennese Concert full of familiar rousing ballroom pieces and glittering solos to get your celebrations going? Or how about Bernstein’s West Side Story on Valentine’s Day? Sounds good huh? Maybe you could buy your loved one a subscription to become a Friend of The Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra for Christmas? You’ll be speaking to the beautiful, musical side of them while supporting a hugely important part of Brighton life at the same time!