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Harry Styles received a standing ovation after his moving performance at Meltdown Festival, where he was backed by a full orchestra led by conductor Jules Buckley.

The pop star curated this year’s festival at the Southbank Centre in London, with shows from artists including Kamasi Washington, Yussef Dayes, Warpaint, and Beverley Glenn-Copeland.

His own performance took place on Tuesday (16 June), an intimate gig that lands in the middle of his record-breaking 12-night residency at Wembley Stadium.

Styles joked “good evening Wembley” at one point during the evening, as he went on to describe the invitation to curate Meltdown as an “honour”.

“It feels strange [to be] so aware you’re in the middle of your career highlight,” he said, NME reports. “This is an incredibly special week for me.”

Styles, 32, moved between the piano and his guitar as he played a set largely comprising songs from his latest albums, his Grammy-winning 2022 record Harry’s House, and this year’s Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally.

Harry Styles performs with the Jules Buckley Orchestra at Meltdown FestivalHarry Styles performs with the Jules Buckley Orchestra at Meltdown Festival (Julian Basjel)

There were orchestral pieces, including “Matter Red” and “Hummingbird” by Buckley, and “Hommage” by Patrick Watson, the latter whom Styles described as an influence when it came to his collaborations with Buckley.

The conductor features on Styles’s latest album, having arranged the strings for “Coming Up Roses” and for the orchestral segment of his ongoing Together, Together tour.

He closed the set with a cover of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Simon & Garfunkel, from their 1970 album of the same name.

Styles is a known fan of the song, and has been playing it just before coming onstage during his current tour.

Styles worked in a number of covers to his Meltdown setStyles worked in a number of covers to his Meltdown set (Julien Basjel)

Rolling Stone UK reports that Styles said his own track, “Carla’s Song”, was inspired by the experience of seeing a friend hear “Bridge Over Troubled Water” for the first time, comparing it to seeing someone witness a magic trick.

“Music is magic and I feel so lucky to get to be a part of it in just a small way,” said Styles.

“I think hearing songs like that is a reminder of this thing that is so much bigger than any one artist that you like. Any one song is this thing that every musician is kind of investing in, and just trying to add a little piece of themselves to.

“These things are around for so much longer than any of us.”

The publication described Styles’s cover of the track as “stunning”, and branded the evening “the greatest performance of his solo career”.

In a four-star review of Styles’s first night at Wembley, The Independent called him the “consummate entertainer, a charisma factory who lights the place up better than any pyrotechnics”.

“It’s no mean feat to turn a cold concrete stadium into a warm, communal space, but Styles does it,” the review noted. “That’s just how good he is.”