Lovers of choral music won’t want to miss the highly regarded and long-established Summertown Choral Society’s performances of Bach’s Magnificat in D and Haydn’s Missa in Tempore Belli/Mass in a Time of War (Paukenmesse). Accompanied by world-class Instruments of Time and Truth (‘an absolutely superb band of instrumental soloists’ – BBC Record Review) and with 5 outstanding professional soloists, Helen Ashby, Kate Ashby, Hera Protopapas, Tom Kelly, and Daniel Tate, this promises to be a truly memorable evening

The ancient canticle ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord’ spoken by Mary has been set to music countless times over the centuries. Bach’s thrilling setting, first performed in the church of St Thomas, Leipzig in 1733, and scored for five-part choir, five soloists, strings, oboes, flutes, three trumpets and timpani is one of his greatest and most popular compositions.

First performed in Vienna in 1796, Haydn’s Missa in Tempore Belli (Mass in Time of War) is nicknamed the Paukenmesse due to the dramatic use of timpani (pauken),said to foreshadow Beethoven’s mighty Missa Solemnis. It is one of a group of the composer’s late masterpieces including the Creation and the Nelson Mass.He probably had Napoleon’s possible invasion of Austria in mind. At times unsettling, but also lyrically joyful and ending with trumpet fanfares and a fabulous celebration of peace, it is Haydn at his most exciting.

St Andrew’s Church is a wonderful venue. Not only does it have fabulous acoustics but there is plenty of free on-street parking and there are regular buses that stop just round the corner on Banbury Road.

£20