Perverse: it’s a word you could use to describe a decision to found an orchestra that excludes wind and brass players. But there is plenty of varied repertoire for strings alone, as conductor Janet Lincé convincingly demonstrated in this concert.

Best known for her choral group Choros, Lincé formed Corona Strings from a pool of local professional talent at the beginning of this year — the name celebrates Queen Elizabeth II, in whose honour the first concert was given in February.

Placed at the west end of Deddington Church, with its smart modern chairs reversed from their normal position, the Strings revealed a mellow tone, and perky phrasing as they set off on Grieg’s Holberg Suite. This familiar music perhaps doesn’t quite qualify for the description war-horse, but it can sound like a concert filler, dashed off with minimal rehearsal. Not here though, with lyrical playing in the Sarabande, a firmly stated beat in the Gavotte (excellent for dancing) and the cellos and basses set against husky violins and violas in the beautiful Air.

The Strings remained in Scandinavia for Nielsen’s Suite for String Orchestra — “Out of print for quite a while,” Lincé told us, adding: “I hope it will become better known.” Judging by this performance it certainly deserves recognition: the composer’s later, chillier, and more atonal style was hinted at in the first and third movements, while the second emphasised some charming interplay between the string sections. But to me the greatest discovery of the evening was Arvo Pärt’s Festina lente, inspired by the harmonies built up by resonating church bells. Lincé and her accomplished players seem to build these harmonies up into a great arch, the overall effect being of a grand summoning to Mass across, say, Paris on a Sunday morning. Very effective. Last, but by no means least, came Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, with the playing sounding pin-sharp, and as fresh as a daisy.