CARDIFF’S St David’s Hall’s 2012/13 International Concert Series starts in October featuring concerts by top conductors, soloists and orchestras, ranging through Renaissance music and romantic masterworks to music from iconic minimalist composer Steve Reich.

The concerts aim to bring St David’s Hall’s audiences an inspiring mix of the best of traditional classical music in international performances alongside some of the most acclaimed innovatory music of recent times.

Conductors who will appear include Harry Christophers, Sir Andrew Davis, Alexander Dmitriev, Heiko Matthias Forster, Edward Gardner, Andris Nelsons, Lothar Koenigs and violinist Joshua Bell who will both play and direct.

The range and quality of the performers continues a long tradition of excellence that has marked St David’s Hall as the national concert hall of Wales and put Cardiff on the international musical map.

St David’s Hall’s International Concert Series runs from October to May and features 12 concerts by orchestras, choirs and ensembles.

The opening concert of the season feature the return to Cardiff of the St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra on October 3 and the season also includes visits from two Czech orchestras – the Prague Symphony Orchestra on November 8 and Czech Philharmonic Orchestra on April 17.

Eagerly anticipated will be the visit by violin superstar Joshua Bell in his new role as music director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields October 17 and the return of the choir The Sixteen under their conductor Harry Christophers on December 5.

A first for St David’s Hall will be the visit of the Colin Curry Group with Synergy Vocals in the iconic minimalist masterpiece by Steve Reich, Drumming on October 24.

Subscription packages, starting at just £49.50, are now on sale.

With benefits and savings of up to 20 per cent on tickets, subscription packages are both an affordable and convenient way to enjoy the season.

Tickets for individual concerts, priced from £5 to £42, are also available, with discounts for families, groups, disabled concertgoers, claimants, students and other young people.

In particular, St David’s Hall’s family ticket schemes have been introduced to encourage younger people to attend classical music concerts.

All tickets are available from St David’s Hall on 029 2087 8444 or book at stdavidshallcardiff.co.uk