THE Wessex Chamber Choir is opening its doors to potential new members with an open rehearsal this month, offering an exciting opportunity to come and try out the choir, enjoy refreshments, and chat with choristers.

A choir spokesman said they are a friendly bunch consisting of 25 to 30 mixed voices and get real pleasure from singing and socialising together. Members come from a variety of musical backgrounds and live in Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire.

The Choir meets weekly in Odiham, near Alton, to rehearse and performs to acclaim in a variety of venues across the region. It also visits cathedrals around the country several times each year to take part in services in the absence of the resident choir. Recently, these have included Chichester and Ely cathedrals, and forthcoming visits to Hereford Cathedral and Christchurch Priory are already in the Choir’s schedule.

Musical director Richard Stevens described the choir’s repertoire as “a varied and mixed bag which includes, as well as sacred music, songs from stage shows, folk songs and works by the greats such as Cole Porter, George Gershwin, John Lennon, Bob Chilcott and George Sheering”.

The Wessex Chamber Choir was founded in 1990 and since February 2009 has been under the direction of Mr Stevens, who studied at the University of Durham where he was a choral scholar in the cathedral choir under legendary organist Dr Conrad Eden. He subsequently sang with the choirs of Guildford Cathedral and Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal before joining the choir of St Paul’s Cathedral.

Mr Stevens divides his time between singing, conducting and adjudicating, and he has sung with many leading vocal ensembles and solo engagements.

He directs the Thomas Sutton Singers at the London Charterhouse, and with actor Ian Cullen founded Ayres and Graces, an ensemble of musicians and actors who present recitals of music and readings on cultural themes in historic venues.

He has a passion for all forms of rail transport and is a working volunteer on Hampshire’s nostalic Watercress Line steam railway.

To get involved with The Wessex Chamber Choir, simply join the open rehearsal at Robert May’s School, West Street, Odiham, on Thursday, June 21, at 7.45pm, or e-mail [email protected].