Katie Derham and Ensemble Reza dazzle at charity fundraiser.

Ardingly College chapel was packed to the rafters on Saturday night when Ensemble Reza played a beautiful programme, which kickstarted the evening’s fundraising for St Peter and St James‘s hospice. Katie Derham was compère for the evening and introduced Miriam, Matthew, Pavlos and Sarah, who were joined by Ellie Blackshaw on viola and, for her debut appearance, Rose Hinton on violin.

Together, they played a fantastically varied programme of music, embracing everything from Brahms and Tchaikovsky to folk and bluegrass.

As an audience member, I was lucky enough to be there both as a guest and as a proud member of the Reza team and as usual, I couldn’t help but shimmy along, as the player’s energy and evident joy in their music-making was so infectious. They really set the tone for a very successful evening of fundraising for such an important local cause.