Paco Peña’s Flamenco Requiem at Salisbury Cathedral on Saturday and Sunday nights, billed as one of this year’s festival highlights, gave the audience all this and much more.

The main nave and aisles were packed and anticipation was running high as the lights dimmed and Paco Peña made his entrance.

Without even playing a note, the guitar maestro received a thunderous welcome as he took to the stage for a solo performance.

The audience sat mesmerised as he started to play, gently at first and building up to what can only be described as one of the most unbelievable guitar-playing I have ever had the pleasure to listen to.

How the man could play so many notes in such quick succession left few people with little doubt why Paco Peña has been described as a “musical virtuoso, capable of dazzling as audience beyond the frets of mortal man”.

It was both a pleasure and a marvel to watch the living-legend in action and if all the evening had consisted of was this five-minute solo I would have been happy.

But that was merely a taster of what was to come and for the next quarter-of-an-hour we were treated to some riveting dance moves by Fernando Romero as he and Paco, on guitar, captured the traditional heart of flamenco.

Paco had written the piece especially for this year’s festival after some warm prompting from Chorus and its conductor, Howard Moody, and the rapport between the two was apparent from the start.

Having not heard any of their previous collaborative work, I was unsure how flamenco and classical music would combine but the result was riveting.

The choirs simply sang flamenco and although their voices dominated at times, the piece was primarily a flamenco work, with a strong environmental theme as a ‘requiem for the earth’.

Together with his brilliant team of Andalucian musicians and singers, Paco’s requiem captivated the audience, bringing them top their feet in acclamation at the end of the 75-minute set.

It was a sensational evening, full of authenticity and innovation.

My only criticism – people sitting in the aisles would have had their view of the stage severely restricted by the pillars and despite the wonderful acoustics in the Cathedral they must have been disappointed with the view.

Brilliant flamenco guitarist Paco Peña premiered his amazing Requiem for the Earth, which combined the wild passion of flamenco and the more formal forces of Salisbury Festival and Children’s choir.

Howard Moody, conductor and arranger, was instrumental in bringing this mighty work to fruition after many pilgrimages to Paco’s house with a tape recorder and manuscript paper.

The Requiem mass was specially commissioned for this year’s Salisbury Festival as a ‘powerful evocation that our existence on this earth is ephemeral’.

Paco says that the work has been inspired by more than one tradition including the pre-Christian stanzas and themes of Homer.

Flamenco is an improvised form that uses voice, guitar, hand-clapping and dance to create an eruption of emotion – passion, pathos, joy and rebellion.

It is a testament to Paco Peña, Howard Moody and all the musicians involved that this difficult mixture worked so well.

The dynamic tension between the harsh, crystal clear tones of flamenco – wrought in the furnace heat and poverty of the Andalucian mountains – and the more modulated and nuanced tones of the north European choir was a revelation.

Special mention should be made of the flamenco soloists El Chaparro, Miguel Ortega, María del Mar Fernández and Juan José Amador and the choir soloists Lorraine Blakey, Laura Trapnel and Rhiannon Judd.

But congratulations are also due to the members of the children’s choir who showed a maturity beyond their years.

Where sometimes musical performances have trouble taking control of this vast expanse, the Spanish song, percussion and guitar mingled with Howard Moody’s Salisbury Festival chorus, had no difficulty at all in filling the Cathedral with musical pain and passion.

In a solo guitar piece that opened the concert, Peña’s music set the scene. With swift and precise fingers he magics a spirituality from his instrument, that may originate from a different culture and climate, but was perfectly placed in the Cathedral. “Recordando a Ramón” was a dramatic suite with dancer Fernando Romero underlining what Flamenco passion is about.

Howard Moody, who approached Peña two years ago asking him to write this piece, held it all brilliantly together, considering the chorus were singing in such an unfamiliar style. In particular the Children’s Chorus did extremely well, bringing in light voices a perfect couterbalance to the Spanish, earthfelt sorrow. Most touching was the soothing Agnus Dei, followed closely by the hopeful final Esperanza, surrounding the modest stage presence of Peña, the magician who created it all. Hopefully this music will be available on CD soon!

When we unite with Europe, what we get is something spectacular and sensational – something truly extraordinary.

Now I’m not getting all political or referring to a certain football tournament that’s looming on the horizon!! I’m talking Salisbury Festival and a performance of Paco Peña’s Flamenco Requiem.

The evening was split into two, with the first half being, only twenty minutes – but what a twenty minutes.

Paco Peña captured the audience from the very moment his fingers moved like a millipede across the guitar strings – in an instant we were transported to Andalusia, witnessing a man described as the finest flamenco guitarist in the world (it’s true, he is) accompanied by dancer Fernando Romero.

From my unreserved seat, in the side aisle I could only see the top half of Señor Romero and hear Paco Peña. Now, being asked to review the performance, I knew I had to take drastic action. How could I be expected to comment on something I couldn’t see?! So, after the

The free, emotional, earthy expressive music form, that is Spanish flamenco alongside classical English choral music. An unlikely combination – but it works.

That’s due to an amazing musical score and the communication between Paco Peña, his hugely talented musicians and singers and conductor, Howard Moody, (I’m sure he should receive so sort of medal) and the Salisbury Festival Chorus, it was mesmerising.

Different worlds, different languages and different music styles, working seamlessly as one. It’s easy to forget the Festival Chorus is made up of men, women and children who live, work and go to school in South Wiltshire.

The standing ovation proved it doesn’t get much better than this.