RAINER Hersch has conducted some of the world’s leading orchestras; he’s also performed his own stand-up comedy shows at the Edinburgh Festival.

On Monday he will combine his talents for a special festive evening at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall.

He will lead his own Orkestra and the audience in a Christmas Number One Singalong.

The show will be a combination of great music - it also features soloists Kerrie Anne Greenland and Graham Foote - plus major amounts of silliness from Rainer.

“Originally I thought about doing something based on Christmas of the Seventies with those songs by Slade and Wizzard,” he said. “Then I realised I should forget the Seventies and concentrate on all those great Christmas number ones

“Some of them are just the sound of Christmas but others aren’t exactly full of the festive spirit like Something Stupid and even Bohemian Rhapsody which got to number one twice over Christmas.

“But put them all together and it really works. I’m afraid you need to come along to fully experience it.”

Rainer has combined comedy and music before.

“One of my first comedy shows was Classical Music Explained,” he said. “I ‘m really moved by a lot of music, especially classical music, which has been my thing. But I have this subversive part of me which loves doing comedy. Initially I would write comedy about anything but music but eventually I realised that’s where I should take things.”

In his new show Rainer will tell funny stories about some of the songs which reached the coveted number one spot before conducting the Orkestra as they perform classics such as Merry Xmas Everybody and Mull of Kintyre.

Rainer says he is often asked if his less than serious approach to the music offends the orchestra.

“The first thing to remember is that musicians have great senses of humour,” he said. “This show offers them a release, a chance to have a little fun.

“But once I’ve done the stand-up bit and turned round to face the musicians, they can sense that I’m very serious about making music.

“Conducting isn’t just waving your hands about in a random manner. I’ve studied it for five years at the Royal Academy of Music and in Vienna. To stand in front of an orchestra and lead them you have to have a technical ability and you have to love the music and I think that comes across in two seconds flat.”

Rainer believes that the musicians almost get as much out of the show as the audience does.

“When they do our shows the orchestra gets a response that is so different from their normal audience,” he said. “At a classical concert they may get a gentle round of applause, rather like someone hitting a four at a cricket match might get, but with these shows the audiences go wild.”

Rainer would like to see more interaction at classical concerts.

“It’s one of the things I rebel against in a classical sense,” he said. “You have these people doing something amazing and it’s met with a total silence. Why shouldn’t you clap between movements?

“But with this show it’s all about everyone from audience to musicians having fun.”

Rainer Hersch's Christmas Number One (Pop) Singalong, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, Monday, December 18. Details from 0161 907 9000 or www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk