TICKETS have been selling fast for the first in a series of top orchestral concerts at Great Yarmouth's Hippodrome Circus.And ahead of the arrival of international pianist John Lill and the Munich KlangVerwaltung Orchestra for the first date on November 19, it was revealed that the series at the Hippodrome was already to be extended with extra concerts throughout next year and 2010.

TICKETS have been selling fast for the first in a series of top orchestral concerts at Great Yarmouth's Hippodrome Circus.

And ahead of the arrival of international pianist John Lill and the Munich KlangVerwaltung Orchestra for the first date on November 19, it was revealed that the series at the Hippodrome was already to be extended with extra concerts throughout next year and 2010.

In the first Symphony by the Sea, featuring one of Germany's finest orchestras, the audience will be treated to the Mozart D Minor Concerto, Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 and Wagner's Siegfried Idyll.

Joe Mackintosh, chief executive of the town's SeaChange Arts charity, which has organised the concerts, said: “During the 1960s and 1970s there were frequent concerts by world-class orchestras at the Hippodrome, from the London Philharmonic Orchestra to the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra from Czechoslovakia. We are thrilled to have put the Hippodrome back at the forefront of regional orchestral venues.”

He said the Hippodrome's wooden structure and banked walls of seats meant everyone had an excellent view and the acoustics were comparable with the finest concert halls.

SeaChange marketing officer Penny Wright said: “All the orchestras are really big draws so we have been distributing publicity leaflets right across Norfolk and into Suffolk.

“We have had good sales not just for this month's concert but the two already on the calendar for February and March.”

On February 4, the Russian State Philharmonic Orchestra will play alongside world famous British cellist Julian Lloyd Webber while the March 15 concert will feature the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and violinist Ernst Kovacic.

Ms Wright said: “We have already pencilled in three additional concerts at the Hippodrome, two for autumn next year, including a performance by the St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, and one in the spring of 2010.”

Hippodrome owner Peter Jay welcomed the extension of the concert series, saying it was fantastic to bring world-class orchestras to Yarmouth.

“The Hippodrome is the perfect venue, like a mini Albert Hall,” he said.