A NEW work to welcome the spring to the Cotswolds from composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad takes place on Saturday March 14.

The Tree of Life Concert with Opus Anglicanum: 5 men singing unaccompanied and a narrator perform presents traditional song Gregorian chant, Schubert ‘Der Lindenbaum’, Elizabeth Poston ‘Jesus Christ the Apple Tree’, Adrian Willaert’s 5-part ‘O Crux splendidior’ and the first performance of a new work commissioned from Cheryl Frances-Hoad ‘In the crypt of the wood’. Reader Zeb Soanes, often to be heard on BBC Radio 4, 'knits' the music together with the words of Thomas Traherne, Charles Causley, Ruth Pitter, and the Anglo-Saxon ‘Dream of the Rood’.

The second part of the concert in conjunction with Richard Stephens, is the plainchant Vespers of the Virgin Mary. Marcel Dupré’s ‘Les Vêpres de la Vierge’ Op. 18 is in the centuries old tradition of the organist replacing the choir at certain points of the liturgy with improvisations on the plainchant. We perform the entire liturgical service of Vespers for the Virgin Mary, including Dupré’s 15 organ interpolated ‘versets’ on the plainchant, played by Richard Stephens. Richard studied in Paris with Marie-Claire Alain, and his prowess in the French tradition which she embodied equals his performance of Bach.

Opus Anglicanum return to Campden after recent triumphs at 3 Choirs Festival with ‘The Song of Angels’, and at Campden itself in December with ‘Mediaeval Carols’ and ‘Figgy Pudding’. The concert takes place at St James' Church. Admission is £10 at the door.