Winchester City Festival Choir is preparing to sing Dixit Dominus, Handel, and John Rutter's Psalmfest in the new year. 

Esther Hack, from the choir, said: “Dixit Dominus is the most fabulous uplifting music, the Psalmfest is more contemporary and a very interesting contrast.

“Both are Christian, but people with all and no beliefs love singing this music. We will take a break and have a carol evening in December, and in summer something completely different.

“Our open evenings are September 13 in Littleton Memorial Hall and September 20 in the Milner Hall.

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“We are looking for sopranos, tenors and basses. Nowadays tenors are women and men, and whilst at the moment our basses are all men, we look forward to welcoming everyone singing in the range that’s right for you. If you can’t make either date, please contact our secretary, wcfc_sec@hotmail.com.

“I’ve noticed that other wonderful Winchester choirs are recruiting. How do you decide which one is for you? What kind of music do you want to sing, and what kind of experience have you had – some choirs have an audition. We have no formal audition but the director of music may choose to re-assess voices in order to balance the choir from time to time. It helps to understand how music is written but people have joined us and been supported to learn to read music. 

“It is coming to the close of our centenary year. We started with a wonderful concert: in January singing Haydn’s ‘Creation’ and the World Premier of Oliver Tarney’s ‘O Lord, Our Lord’. A great experience for singers and the audience told us they loved it too.”

For more details about the choir, visit: wcfchoir.org.