GUISBOROUGH Choral Society, under conductor Michael Summers, performs Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna on Saturday, April 24, at St Nicholas’ Church, Guisborough.

The organist is Andrew Christer, and the performance will feature the Northern Spirit Singers. It starts at 7.30pm.

Born in America in 1943, Lauridsen was composer-inresidence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale (1994-2001) and has been a professor of composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music for more than 30 years.

His works have been recorded on more than 100 CDs, three of which have received Grammy nominations. Lux Aeterna (1997) is a five-movement quasi-requiem that includes elements from the traditional Latin requiem combined with other texts.

The concert includes five Negro spirituals from A Child of our Time by Tippett. The work, probably his bestknown, began in 1938 when he was searching for an appropriate subject for a fullscale oratorio to be modelled on Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Passions.

The Second World War, and particularly news of Kristallnacht in Nazi Germany, led to the idea for A Child of our Time.

The spirituals are the modern equivalent to Bach’s chorales in this exultant assertion of compassion and brotherhood against divisions of race or religion.

Tickets cost £8, concessions £7, under-19s £1, available from wegottickets.com, Greensleeves Music Shop and Guisborough Bookshop, Chaloner Street, also from members and at the door.

For more details, ring 01642- 724270 or visit guisboroughchoralsociety.org.uk.