THE long-awaited Furness Bach Choir concert of works written for multiple choirs and performed in the round was postponed in spring of last year due to an unprecedented amount of illness among choir members.

This time around there have been no such challenges, and the choir is looking forward to the rescheduled Surround of Music concert, which will be staged on Saturday, April 23 (7.30pm) at Neville Street Methodist Church, Ulverston.

The works featured range from the 17th Century right up to the 21st, and include the well-known Miserere by Allegri in which the soprano soloist, Ciara Myakicheff-Preston, soars up to a breathtaking top C, plus the Lauda Jerusalem from the Monteverdi Vespers where a group of tenors sing the plainsong hymn while the other voices, in two separate choirs, weave a densely-textured and exciting web of music around them. Also in the ambitious programme is a stupendous anthem O Praise the Lord All Ye Heathen by English composer Thomas Tomkins as well as two modern pieces: Water Night by the contemporary American composer Eric Whitacre and Evening Prayer by a young Norwegian musician, Ola Gjeilo, which includes a saxophone improvisation that will be performed by local player Faye Lewis.

The two longer works in the programme are the Mass for 4 Choirs by the French Baroque composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier and an extended four choir work by Mendelssohn entitled Hora Est. For both works the choir will split into four equal groups and the audience will hear the music from all four corners of the church, giving a sensational stereophonic effect.

Conducted by Anthony Milledge, Surround of Music promises to be a brilliant concert with big, beautiful music for the most part, written for multiple voices. The Mendelssohn Hora Est starts with a section for eight-part male voice choir and then the women's voices join in, making it 16 separate parts with a marvellously rich texture. All the soloists, including Ciara, are from the choir.