St. Mary's Church was filled with choral music on the evening of Saturday 18th March.

Dodecantus, the regional chamber choir, performed a wonderful and captivating programme of seasonal music to help raise funds for St. Mary’s Church.

With the concert being in the middle of Lent, the programme was set around the theme of Looking Forward to Easter. Over the ages many choral composers have turned to the texts of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, the traditional Gospel Canticles for daily prayer taken from the Gospel of St. Luke.  The version performed by the choir was written by English composer and organist Thomas Walmisley.  It was followed by four unaccompanied works before the first half closed with a performance of Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs.   After the interval the choir performed Rheinberger’s Stabat Mater and the concert concluded with Bob Chilcott’s upbeat Nidaros Jazz Mass that was written only 11 years ago for the cathedral choir in Trondheim, Norway.

Our thanks to Dodecantus, the Pear Tree and to all who came and shared the evening in church. £200 was raised Church funds - many thanks for your generosity!