Performance by choir that only meets three times

The 250-strong Midland Festival Chorus will sing Verdi’s Requ-iem on Saturday, October 10.

The concert will also feature the Bournemouth Symphony Orch-estra and some of Britain’s most prestigious soloists.

The choir comes together just three times a year; twice for two very intensive rehearsals and then again for a show-stopping performance.

Musical director Malcolm Goldring, who helped found the choir, said: “It sounds like madness but the proof of the pudding is that it works. We’ve been going for 35 years.”

Choir members, who come from all over the UK, spend most of the year learning and practising their parts at home. The first time they sing together is at rehearsal – just weeks before the concert.

Mr Goldring said: “It’s my job to turn 250 disparate voices into one unified sound. The first five minutes of the first rehearsal isn’t easy, but it soon melds together.”

The group began life as a choral workshop in the Leicestershire village of Shepshed, but soon expanded. It moved from Warwick Arts Centre to Worcester Cathedral in 2002.

Mr Goldring said: “When we moved from Warwick we viewed coming to Worcester as a positive way to go forward. We’ve been flabbergasted by the response we’ve had, not only from the cathedral authorities, but the people of Worcester, the performers and the non-musicians. It’s been so warm that we see Worcester as our home.”

The choral group is open to anyone. There are no auditions and the main aim is to encourage people from all walks of life to sing major choral works to the best of their ability.

Enrolment takes place once a year. Anyone interested in joining should visit midlandfestivalchorus.org or call 0116 2671680.

Tickets for the Verdi performance, priced £7 to £19, are available on 01905 611427 or from the Cathedral shop.

Soloists on the night will be Janice Watson, soprano, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, mezzo soprano, Rhys Meirion, tenor, and Quentin Hayes, bass.