LEVENS Choir celebrates Eastertime this year with two concerts - the first at St John’s Church, Workington, on Sunday (April 19) with a repeat performance in the resonant acoustic of Kendal's St George’s Church, on Tuesday, April 21.

Hymnus Paschalis - A Hymn for Easter is a varied feast of joyful music.

Michael Tippett’s wonderfully rich arrangements of five spirituals and Bob Chilcott’s ethereal Canticles of Light frame Hymnus Paschalis, a vigorous and ecstatic setting of texts celebrating the Christian message of Easter.

First performed at the Worcester Three Choirs’ Festival in 1995 Hymnus Paschalis was written by the then director of music at Worcester Cathedral Donald Hunt and reaches a surprising and celebratory climax with free singing and ringing of bells.

Sir Michael rose to prominence during and immediately after the Second World War and ranked alongside his contemporary Benjamin Britten as one of the leading British composers of the 20th Century. Among his best-known works are the oratorio A Child of Our Time, the orchestral Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli, and the opera The Midsummer Marriage.

Bob Chilcott is regarded as a contemporary hero of British choral music, and one of the most widely performed composers of choral music in the world. He has a large catalogue of works published by Oxford University Press which reflects his wide taste in music styles and his commitment to writing music that is both singable and communicative.

Also featured in the Levens Choir programme will be the setting of the Mass by the Tudor period composer John Shepherd. Like many settings of the time this one draws on a popular love song of the time for its main theme.

John Sheppard (c1515-1558) is thought to have been a chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral in or around 1530. By 1543 he had become informator choristarum, the ancient Latin title for director of music, at Magdalen College Oxford.

Apparently, much of Sheppard’s music has been lost. His compositions survive in part books at Christ Church Oxford, and testify to the elaborate style of church music from the reign of Mary Tudor (1553-1558).

As per usual the choir - which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year - will be conducted by chorus master extraordinaire Ian Jones.

Choir concerts already planned for 2015 include Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Britten’s Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard at Kendal Town Hall on June 28 and a Songs of Praise as part of the Magna Carta Festival in Cartmel Priory on September 29.

Tickets for Hymnus Paschalis - A Hymn for Easter are available from Made in Cumbria, Branthwaite Brow, Kendal, choir members or by telephone on 01539-730590.

Both concerts start at 7.30pm.