If Tony Blair and his ministers wanted to see respect from youngsters in action, they should have gone to this concert.

They would have seen respect for the music, the audience, the conductor and each other. The 150 young musicians and members of the Brighton Festival Youth Choir certainly give the lie to the need for "Asbos" or any silly ban on hoodies or baseball caps.

These highly-talented young people produced a fabulous performance of two difficult modern pieces, George Gershwin's Piano Concerto with the now Brighton-based Joanna MacGregor as soloist, and extracts from Stravinsky's Firebird Suite.

Conductor Andrew Sherwood has obviously instilled in these musicians an infectious enthusiasm and a wonderful confidence.

They know they are good at what they do and displayed it superbly.

And Brighton Festival Youth Choir boss Juliette Pochin has done the same for her protogees. Song Cycle is a project of songs written by Stewart Copeland, formerly of the pop group Police, John Paul Jones, formerly of Led Zeppelin and singer Peter Gabriel, on the theme of water and its importance to all of us.

This modern set was refused funding by Youth Music because it was deemed overly ambitious but Sunday's world premiere showed that classical musicians can meet pop music with a social conscience and produced a fine sound.

Brighton and Hove should be proud to have these youngsters.