Rock fans are used to musicians talking to the audience in between performing hits and classic album tracks - explaining the song’s origin or making political and personal statements.

Bruce Springsteen for one is famous for his monologues about growing up in New Jersey and Joe Strummer of The Clash liked to ad-lib in between tunes.

But it’s a different story in the world of classical music, where musicians traditionally say nothing and a reverend hush descends on the auditorium when the conductor taps his baton.

All that is about to change with a groundbreaking new approach by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE), whose musicians will soon be breaking their silence to speak to the crowd.

The OAE plans to introduce talking on stage in a radical move towards what it hopes will become “a new, less formal concert hall culture”.

In the hope of breaking down century old barriers between an orchestra and its audience the performers will step up to the front to talk about the piece they are about to play, its history, how the rehearsal process has impacted on the finished piece and what it means to them. The orchestra’s conductors will also introduce themselves and the music,