The performances attracted hundreds of people and have been received with great enthusiasm for Rodney whose knowledge of his subjects is superb and his presentation is sleek, moving smoothly from presenting recorded music, film clips, interviews and creating atmosphere for sing along. This is not surprising taking into consideration his professional background, but for the audience it is always treat.

Rodney is known internationally as a Producer and Director of classical music programmes on television. After graduating in music at Manchester University he joined the BBC - first in radio and later moving to Television Music and Arts, where he found himself rubbing shoulders with Jonathan Miller, Ken Russell, Melvyn Bragg, and Humphrey Burton.

He left the BBC in 1980 and has since been a freelance, making more than 300 productions in Europe and America. He was invited by NBC in New York to direct prestigious music shows televised live from Rockefeller Centre, which won Emmy Awards. In 1976 he win the first prize at the Budapest International Competition for television music directors.

You can still catch Rodney's name on the screen at the end of the Proms. He's been in charge of dozens of Proms over the years, including the Last Night, which he directed 8 times. This summer will mark his 40th consecutive season.

He's written and presented various radio programmes including George Gershwin as 'Composer of the Week' on Radio 3 and he writes music articles for the press.

His illustrated biography of Gershwin was published in Gershwin's centenary year, 1998.