So impressed was he by the brilliant performance, he offered the unknown young man an exclusive contract, and three months later he was in Katowice recording Lalo's Symphony Espagnole with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.

News of some remarkable sessions had travelled as far away as Prague and Budapest by the following day, and the international career of the Moscow-trained violinist, Marat Bisengaliev, had begun.

Now with a catalogue of recordings, including the number one slot in Classic FM Magazine's Hall of Fame, Bisengaliev is in demand around the world with tours scheduled this year to the United States, New Zealand, Russia and an extended visit to the Far East. He has since formed the West Kazakhstan Philharmonic and was named as the music director of the Symphony Orchestra of India.

But he has never forgotten where this story all began, and leaves a slot in his hectic schedule to make visits back home to Sheffield and Leeds, tomorrow night appearing with the Hallam Sinfonia with Khachaturian's Violin Concerto. It will be a doubly exciting evening with the debut of the orchestra's recently appointed conductor Natalia Luis-Bassa, in a programme that contains works by Borodin and Sibelius.

Bisengaliev plays the same concerto at St Chad's Church, Headingley (May 18) with
the Leeds Symphony Orchestra conducted by Martin Binks, their programme containing works by Kabalevsky, Beethoven and Liszt.

For booking arrangements see today's listings.