NEARLY 100 talented young musicians come from Australia to Ludlow on December 18 for a concert that will include some exciting rarities.

Melbourne Grammar School's Symphony Orchestra is due to call in at St Laurence's Church as part of a UK tour that includes dates in London, Edinburgh and Crowthorne.

The most familiar works in the programme are Elgar's Nimrod and his fourth Pomp and Circumstance March.

From then it will be relatively unknown but intriguing territory for most listeners. There are two pieces - a March and Ashanti Battle Song - by Havergal Brian, a semi-legendary figure who wrote 32 symphonies before he stopped at the age of 92.

He achieved the unprecedented feat of writing the last 20 while in his 80s.

Some of his symphonies flitter in and out of the CD catalogue but they hardly ever make an appearance n the concert hall.

Richard Francis, director of music at St Laurence's, joins the orchestra to play the final movement of Josef Rheinberger's Organ Concerto in F.

Rheinberger must be one of the few composers to have been born in Liechtenstein and who wrote an immense amount of music for the organ. Richard Francis also features in the programme with his own suite The Pride of Scotland.

He originally wrote it in 1973 but recently revived it.

The new version will be premiered in Edinburgh and Ludlow will hear its second performance.

The concert also includes Kenneth Leighton's Dance Suite no 2 and the conclusion of Edward German's Welsh Rhapsody, which contains Men of Harlech.

The concert starts at 7.30pm. Entry is £5, in aid of the church's organ fund.