“Music is so important for young people” – conductor Simon Wright’s words met with approving applause.

The orchestra generously arranges for 200 tickets to allow young people to attend each concert; it was pleasing to see a diverse audience on Saturday night enjoying three repertoire classics and a premiere.

The programme began a survey of the Finnish composer Sibelius’s orchestral works, which will continue across successive seasons.

The orchestra gathered confidence through the rousing drama of Finlandia, with crisp brass articulation and sharp crescendi adding depth.

The new work was York composer Dick Blackford’s Symphonic Dances. Blackford’s nostalgic idiom has a lyrical charm through his colourful orchestration, if ever-changing as in the opening March.

A placid Sarabande preceded a smooth jazz clarinet hue in The Last Waltz, which lost direction slightly, before a more sentimental Intermezzo and a chattering Reel.

Bruch’s evergreen Violin Concerto No 1 proved a real hit with the audience. Soloist David Greed, who was the inaugural leader with Orchestra of Opera North, brought contemplative gravitas to the Prelude and Adagio.

Under Wright’s steady hand, the strings maintained sympathetic accompaniment throughout before responding enthusiastically to Greed’s chirpier Finale.

The orchestra gave their all in the clamorous swells of Sibelius’s demanding Symphony No 1. Clarinettist Andrew Cavell deserves mention for an ominously hushed opening.

The Andante brought a darker, affecting melancholy. After a fiery start to the Scherzo, the woodwind came into their own in balanced, shapely duets, paving the way for a dramatic finish.

- James Whittle