BOLTON Sinfonietta starts its autumn programme at the end of this month with a concert at Bolton School Arts Centre.

On Saturday, September 30, at the Bolton School Arts Centre, Damien Royannais, a National Federation of Musical Societies recommended artist, is the soloist for Glazunov's Saxophone Concerto Op. 109.

The concert, which starts at 7.30pm, opens with the Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No 3. In the second half, the Sinfonietta will play Tchaikowsky's Serenade for Strings Op.48.

On Saturday, November 18, the Symphony Orchestra give their main concert in the Albert Halls at 7.30 pm.

The main work is the exciting Scheherazade by Rimsky Korsakov.

There is also a first performance of Karen Done's The Soft Moon. Karen is a violinist in the orchestra and wrote the piece while she was a student at Liverpool University. The concert will open with the Fanfare for the Millennium which was commissioned by the orchestra from Michael J Lyons. It was first performed earlier this year.

The Sinfonietta will close the year with Christmas by Candlelight -- a concert of Christmas music -- on Sunday, December 10, at 7.30 pm at St Thomas of Canterbury Church, Heaton, Bolton.

The programme will include Corelli's Concerto Grosso Op.6 No. 8 (Christmas Concerto); Scarlatti's Cantata Pastorale with soloist Jane Hyde (soprano) and Suk's Meditation on the Czech Chorale -- Saint Wenceslas Op.35a.

All the autumn concerts will will conducted by Paul Payton who is relinquishing his post as music director after the New Year 2001 concert.

For the rest of 2001, the orchestra have invited five different guest conductors to conduct programmes. Tickets for all the Bolton Symphony and Sinfonietta concerts are on sale at the Albert Halls Ticket Office on 01204 334400.