Emsworth's Renaissance Choir in concert

Chairman Simon O’Hea said: “The concert will comprise two hours of dream-time music to chill out to and to take the audience to a calmer place.

“We love singing a cappella (unaccompanied) and we’ve selected music which particularly well shows off our abilities in this regard within the church’s gorgeous cathedral-like acoustic. Also, we have chosen music that won’t necessarily be well known. In this year of the 400th anniversary of William Byrd’s death, we will pay homage to him in the lively and ambitious motet Laudibus in Sanctis. This has many off-beat rhythms and nice word-painting. This will be balanced by Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices. We will be singing in the round as we perform Roderick Williams’ Ave Verum Corpus Reimagined for three choirs. Williams also pays homage to Byrd in his contemporary take on an English choral classic, Byrd’s Ave Verum Corpus, using the same words and smearing out Byrd’s phrases and employing radical harmony at several points including clashing ambiguous chords. The contemporary theme continues with John Cage’s FOUR2 where the singers hold static notes with one letter of the word Oregon; listening to each other, they decide when to start and finish each note. It’s a Zen-inspired work of inner peace. Also included is Britten’s quirky Five Flower Songs, with their beautiful evocations.”

“The gentle music of Eric Whitacre sits alongside the highly romantic To be sung of a summer night on the water by Delius and two romantic part-songs in 8 parts by Pearsall which will show off the dynamic range of the choir.”

Tickets are £15, available from renaissancechoir.org.uk or on the door.

“Our website gives further background notes and also provides suggested places to park near to the church.”

Simon added: “We’re a group of around 34 singers from West Sussex and Hampshire who enjoy the challenge and fun of singing a cappella, though some of our singing is accompanied.

“We also like to split our singers into separate choirs, as with the Williams piece referred to above and with many pieces from the Renaissance, to achieve additional effects.

“Although our charitable aim is to keep Renaissance music alive and accessible, and our favourite choral music is Renaissance polyphony, we perform works from all eras. We’re doing Mozart’s Requiem in the autumn and a fundraising Christmas concert for Rowans Hospice. As with many choirs, we’ve a shortage of male singers, so contact us if you think you’d like to give us a try.”