VIOLIN maestro Nigel Kennedy is linking up with the Malvern-based English Symphony Orchestra for two fundraising concerts.

Kennedy, who has a house in West Malvern, will perform with the ESO for Acorns Children's Hospice. The concerts will include Elgar's Violin Concerto in B Minor and the Concerto No 2 in D Major by Polish composer Emil Mlynarski.

The concerts are at the Centaur, the new concert hall at Cheltenham Racecourse, on Saturday, July 23 at 8pm, and Birmingham's Symphony Hall the next day, at 8pm.

Mlynarski was one of the most influential composers in Poland in the early 20th Century and pioneer of Warsaw Philharmonic.

Tickets for the Cheltenham concert are from £17.50 to £37.50 from 01386 791045. Birmingham tickets, from £13.50 to £35, are available from 0121 780 3333.