The European Union Baroque Orchestra at Spitalfields Music Winter Festival

Baroque music and the European Union, one might imagine, are not necessarily a match made in heaven. The idea of a battery of civil servants finding Beckmesserisch joy in the bureaucratic rules and regulations of baroque harmony and counterpoint is indeed a chilling one. But the European Union Baroque Orchestra is a marvellous band, and could not be further away from this, as I tried to communicate in this review of last Saturday's concert.

It was one of those concerts that just leaves you thinking the world is maybe not such a bad place after all. They're official EU Cultural Ambassadors, and an EU flag stood rather forlornly at the back of the stage--flags rarely flourish indoors--reminding us of this. I toyed with various topical references in my review, but they all seemed a bit contrived. Suffice to say, though, this orchestra, with its international personnel clearly enjoying themselves so much, did make one want to believe in the utopian ideal of a harmonious Europe.