BLAKE may have topped the classical charts with The Anniversary Album, but they were not sure how their fans would receive it.

"We've done different styles and didn't do as well with some as with others, especially when we went more pop," says Stephen Bowman, who is joined in the harmony trio by Ollie Baines and Humphrey Berney.

"So when we returned to the classical crossover style with this album, we were on tenterhooks, but when it was announced it had gone straight in at number one in the charts, we were punching the ceiling with delight."

Blake are back on the road with a new tour show, Movies And Musicals, that visits the Grand Opera House, York, on Wednesday night.

"We've had 12 years together now, which has flown by, and in that time we've created seven albums together, " says Stephen. "When we started discussing the creation of a new tour show for this year, one of the things we noted was that we're all movie fans; we're all quite obsessed with them, with big DVD collections, and we'll recommend movies to each or watch them together, so we decided it would make sense to celebrate that love of the movies with a show of movie songs.

"We then decided to add songs from the musicals for the second half, and it's been lovely to be able to create a show in that style, which produces its own unique flow."

On top of that, Wednesday's audience can expect plenty of banter. "We always ad-lib everything between the songs, as we've known each other long enough to have lots of ad-libbed irreverence," says Stephen.

Performing songs from films is a canny move from the Blake trio. "When someone enjoys a movie, they latch on to the soundtrack, and when a theme is as beautiful as John Barry's Out Of Africa, it's evocative, even without seeing the film again.

"When people hear a song, in their mind's eye, they will be bringing up images of the film and that's a lovely thing to be able to add."

In another feature of Wednesday's concert, Blake are inviting virtuosic pianist Dominic Ferris to join them in York. "Dominic has been a musical director in the West End for decades, and he's been involved in some of the musicals we've picked songs from, so it's lovely to have him working with us.

"Some of the songs in the show are stripped back to voice and piano to reveal a little more of the harmonies we sing, while also allowing him to reinterpret the song.

"So even though the Grand Opera House is a grand theatre, there'll be moments of intimacy."

Blake first met Ferris when they were booked to perform on the ocean liner RMS Queen Mary 2, six or seven years ago, recalls Stephen. "It has a splendid theatre that seats close to 700 people with stalls and a grand circle," he says. "We were doing our show and Dominic was doing his piano duo show, The Piano Brothers, where they show off amazing skills and sometimes 'fight' over one piano. Anyway, by chance, we then met again at a friend's show, and we said, 'if you ever want to join us on tour, that would be wonderful', and he's now done five shows with us on this tour."

Blake have had their ups and downs but Stephen believes they are in a good place now. "When we were younger, we lived on every record sale, but the real test of staying together is being to laugh through the difficult times and not just the gilded times, because there are hard times as well as moments of celebration."

Blake's popularity takes them abroad, whether to Scandinavia or a Chinese film festival in Beijing. "This is our sixth year of touring China, and it's lovely to play to thousands in big arenas out there, pretending we're like rock stars!"

Blake: Movies And Musicals, Grand Opera House, York, Wednesday, March 27, 7.30pm. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york

Charles Hutchinson