Together the Singers and an ensemble, mostly comprising Orchestra members, will offer A South American Baroque Extravaganza at St Paul's Church on Monday June 30 at 8.30pm (tickets £10).

The programme has been put together by St Richard Singers conductor Michael Walsh who is also the conductor of the Symphony Orchestra.

They are promising a dazzling and exotic mix from the remote jungle churches of Peru to the lavish polychoral motets by Araujo and his contemporaries.

Symphony Orchestra leader Mark Hartt-Palmer, who will feature in both concerts, said: "They did a similar but shorter concert the Christmas before last in which we did six pieces. For this we are doing 13.

"It is really quite unusual stuff. It's completely different to your standard baroque music. Some of it is very Latin-American/Spanish rhythm with quite a lot of percussion."

As for the Symphony Orchestra concert at 7.30pm on Friday July 4 at St Paul's Church (tickets £9;students/senior citizens £7; children free),

Mr Walsh has put together a programme featuring Vaughan Williams Overture The Wasps, Mozart Horn Concerto No 2, Stanford's Symphony No 6 and Eric Coates' London Every Day Suite (the last movement of which was famously used for In Town Tonight).

"Probably the most interesting piece is the Stanford which was only performed a handful of times in Stanford's lifetime."

It was written just over a century ago, Mark explains:" Stanford was mostly known for his choral music in the English and Anglican tradition. After he died, like so many composers, his music just fell out of fashion. His Sixth Symphony has never been published. In fact it is now being published by Cathedral Music (in Chichester). I have done all the parts for publication, and the parts that the Orchestra will be
using are parts that I have engraved."

Tickets for both concerts on 01243 780192.