Sir - I was one of many to attend the concert - Beethoven's 3rd Piano and Dvorak's New World Symphony - at the Sheldonian on Friday (July 27) evening.

As a result I was also one of many to have the evening at least in part spoilt by the intrusive noises that came from a party being held in the adjacent Bodleian buildings.

Not only were the audience disturbed by the noise, but the conductor was clearly highly agitated by the effects of such an extraordinary display of organisational incompetence.

Though he tried to get someone to find a way of reducing the noise, his efforts were clearly in vain.

Given that the Oxford Philomusica is the University's orchestra in residence, it beggars belief that the University would have sanctioned the use of the adjacent building for a party - which would inevitably involve noise - on the same evening.

When it transpired that the party in the Bodleian was for Blackwell's - the sponsors of the festival - my annoyance and incredulity reached new depths.

This should have been a wonderful evening of high-class music. It is to their credit that Philomusica managed to play through the disturbance as seemingly unaffected as they did. However, no one should have left the building at the end of the concert feeling that their enjoyment had been so compromised. I am now waiting to hear from the University how they intend to avoid repeating such clashes and to find out how they intend to compensate the audience.

Mark Evans, Oxford