THE big works of famous composers are always well received.

In the interests of bringing the labours of local arrangers into the limelight, Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) takes the opportunity to once again perform their burgeoning work alongside that of their formidable predecessors.

Called Brighton Connections, this third season of chamber music showcases four local composers.

One of them is Lewes-based Robert Orledge, a leading scholar of early 20th-century French music who describes himself as a "creative musicologist".

One focus of his is Claude Debussy, whose well-known masterpiece La Mer was almost certainly influenced by the sea view he had while staying at the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne.

On Sunday (July 3), Orledge adapts Sérénade Pour Violon Et Piano from a 12-bar sketch of a melody written in the 1890s. Orledge also debuts a new piano trio called Le Jardin Clos Et Merveilleux. The show also features music by John Ireland and Mozart.

Ian Brignall, BPO's concert manager, says, "Many well-known composers started as unknowns and it is great to be able to introduce music from well-known composers that show what they were writing at the start of their compositional journey.

"Alongside our local composers are works from the masters of these styles, such as Haydn and Mozart, who composed some of the most sublime chamber pieces.

"Debussy is a stunning French composer who came on holiday in East Sussex - a voice very different to Mozart and Haydn but just as exciting."

The BPO returns for its 92nd season.

Brignall says, "The BPO is the symphony orchestra of Brighton and Hove. Our players include some of the best freelance orchestral musicians from the area, and from some of our finest orchestras.

"It is a high-class orchestra of which Brighton and Hove should feel justifiably proud. It's the only orchestra of its kind in the country, in that it's a professional orchestra that receives no public funding."

For its latest programme, Brignall believes variety is key.

He says, "When performing new music I have found audiences like to have a variety of styles.

"In this series we are exploring various combinations of instruments from string quartet to piano trio, oboe to a duo of violin and viola.

"We are also playing one of the best-known Bach solo cello suites.

"No chamber music series would be complete without Haydn, so we play his very first string quartet."

The July 17 performance sees a premiere of Insects For Three by Jack Redman, who has just completed his studies as a music and organ scholar at Lancing College.

Also performed are Passacaglia For Violin And Cello by Johan Halvorsen (working a Handel theme), the Cello Suite No 1 In G Major by Bach dating from 1717 and a Mozart's Duo No 1 For Violin And Viola In G Minor.

Guy Richardson, chairman of New Music Brighton, represents the local contingent on July 31, having featured heavily on the local scene over the past 30 years. Schooled in Eastbourne and then the University of Sussex, he performs his Meditation On Gibbons’ 20th Fantasia. Also featured is Dvo?ák’s American String Quartet No 12 and Gerald Finzi’s Interlude For Oboe And String Quartet. Finzi met his future wife Joyce Black at Lye Green in Sussex when he rented a cottage from her mother.

The shows wrap up on August 14 with Lewes-based composer John Hawkins, whose work Fuzon String Quartet 2012 is inspired by the poet Blake. The other pieces are Dvo?ák's Zypressen (Liebeslieder), Mozart's String Divertimento In Bb Minor and Mozart's String Quartet In Bb Op 1 No 1.

Brignall adds, "It is a great privilege to create these programmes and also to show the other side of music that the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra can perform away from the Dome in the chamber-sized space of the Unitarian Church.

"It is fantastic that we can showcase so many Brighton-based composers, from those who have been composing for many years and are now hugely successful, to a young composer in the midst of his studies with a very bright future."

Adrian Imms

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra

Unitarian Church, New Road, Brighton, Sundays, July 3, 17, 31 and August 14

Starts 5pm, tickets £15, get all four concerts for price of three in advance, call 01273 709709 or visit the Dome Box Office opposite venue