³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall was packed to the gunnels on Saturday night.

It wasn't simply down to the fact it was the closing night of the RSNO's current season, or the extraordinary performance by Argentinian cellist Sol Gabetta, although both were worthy reasons in their own right.

The extra bodies - all 300 of them - took the RSNO up on their offer of free rail tickets and places at Saturday's concerts.

Swift damage limitation following the cancellation of their two concerts at Edinburgh's Usher Hall (builders and architects now working round the clock to make sure it is ready for the festival!)

The same number, to the RSNO's relief, took up the same offer the week before - including refunds on their Usher Hall tickets, and a 50% discount on the Glasgow tickets.

I'm sure most would agree it was worth the hassle, particularly for Sol Gabetta's enthralling performance of Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations.

All too brief, she followed up with a stunning encore of Dolcissimo by the Latvian composer Peteris Vasks, a technically complex and other worldly piece which had the audience on the edge of their seats.

I wasn't alone in straining from the upper circle to locate the offstage soprano, only to discover it was multi-talented Ms Gabetta singing, as well as playing.

Another RSNO regular was in the spotlight yesterday at Perth Concert Hall.

Christopher Bell and the had taken up the challenge of encouraging a thousand local schoolboys to get singing. Or rather keep singing.

According to research by Perth and Kinross Council, many boys stop singing at the age of 10 or 11.

The reasons, according to those I spoke to yesterday, included being worried about changes to their voices, that choirs just aren't cool and that they don't want to sing alongside girls.

The latter point was quickly resolved by making it a "boys only" event, the cool factor tackled with special dedications from actor Billy Boyd, WWE wrestling star MVP and local radio DJs (although I'm not sure David Cameron's endorsement necessarily upped the cool factor).

And as for the inevitable voice change, the Changed Voices Section of the choir were as good an advert as any for the benefits of singing.

The boys - from 76 of the 77 Perth and Kinross primary schools - took a little bit of warming up but the exuberant Mr Bell, who has been known to make grown men sing along while dancing like penguins, refused to take no for an answer.

By lunchtime, they were already meeting their secondary school teachers and signing up for school choirs.

And Debra Salem, who came up with the whole idea when she realised her son was one of the few boys from the area in the national boys choir, can rest easy.

As well as fielding a few more singers for the national choir, it looks likely that Perth and Kinross will now have a boys choir of its own.