VISITORS to the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight were serenaded with a recital of classical music during a special performance today.

Lesley-Ann Wood – headteacher and founder of Celtic Roots Music Academy – entertained an audience of more than 70 with renditions of work by Handel, Chopin, Beethoven and Badarzewska during her return to the iconic venue.

Her academy is a community project specialises in Celtic music, arts and tuition in traditional folk instruments including tin whistle, Irish drum, flute and fiddle.

Wirral-based Lesley-Ann, a music specialist for more than 25 years, is also a classically-trained concert pianist. After the performance, she said it was great to be back at the venue.

She told the Globe: "We did the opening of the Rosetti exhibition earlier this year and a number of my students performed. It was a private function. The academy is relatively new. We’ve also done a Christmas concert here."

The Celtic Roots Academy also provides specialist music and arts programmes for Wirral Music Service, Leasowe Early Years and adult learning centre, The Light Cinema in New Brighton and Williamson Art Gallery in Oxton among others.

Lesley-Ann, whose passion for Celtic music because stems from her Scottish and Irish roots, said that her classical performance stemmed from her interest in the genre.

She added: "Everything we do is Celtic, but I wanted to demonstrate that I have a very deep classical root.

"The performance didn't start until 2pm, but I'd been at the gallery a couple of hours earlier to rehearse and members of the audience had drifted in early.

"As I was finishing the rehearsal I, jokingly, said to them ‘I hope you’re not staying, because you've heard what I’ll be playing during the recital. But they all stayed and, judging by the reaction, enjoyed the show."

Carol White, director of education at the gallery, said: “We’ve been working with Celtic Roots for a year now. They are a wonderful community organisation.

“We would encourage any community group to consider working with us.”