Ed Vaizey MP and Cllr Deirdre Alden with students at the Elmhurst School of Dance

Shadow Culture Minister Ed Vaizey was in the West Midlands on Thursday to see some of the great cultural assets that we have in this region. Following a visit to the Walsall Art Gallery, Ed took part in a ballet class with Edgbaston's Parliamentary candidate Deirdre Alden at the Elmhurst School of Dance in Edgbaston.

As a director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra I was very pleased to be able to welcome Ed to the CBSO Centre, where we met Chief Executive Stephen Maddock and discussed some of the issues facing the cultural sector in the UK.

Ed then heard the CBSO Young Voices group in rehearsal. An unauditioned group of Birmingham teenagers, CBSOYV were practising a piece that they will perform for HM The Queen at the Commonwealth Service next week. Their excitement at that prospect is clear.

We had a quick bite of supper with two of the CBSO players, double bass Julian Atkinson and principal horn Elspeth Dutch. Elspeth is professor of french horn at the Birmingham Conservatoire, and arguably the youngest professor in the UK. The CBSO is fortunate, and all the stronger, for having a wealth of exceptionally talented players like Julian and Elspeth to provide artistic excellence in Birmingham and act as ambassadors for the city and region around the world.

Ed had also heard about conductor Gustavo Dudamel's visit to England last month (see blog dated 10 February) and was impressed with the achievement in cultural excellence that Dudamel leads in Caracas with the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. I'm delighted that we have a Shadow Minister of Culture who recognises the hugely beneficial impact that the arts can have in community cohesion. Perhaps what Dudamel has achieved in Caracas can be a model for developing and expanding the reach of the CBSO and CBSO Youth Orchestra to appeal across every community in Birmingham and bring music into each and every home.

See Ed Vaizey's blog at: http://edvaizey.mpblogs.com/2007/03/02/the-young-professor/