A Winchester choir are preparing to perform their first concert in 18 months.

‘The Waynflete Singers with the ECO in Concert: An Autumn Thanksgiving’ takes place on October 16 at Winchester Cathedral.

At the concert, the choir will be joined by the English Chamber Orchestra who are the most recorded chamber orchestra in the world.

The concert includes the premiere of the choir’s 50th anniversary commission from Roderick Williams, based on John Keats’s ‘Ode to Autumn’.

The poem was written over 200 years ago after a walk by the poet along the River Itchen in Winchester. The new work included an additional stanza by contemporary poet John Greening.

Internationally renowned cellist, Natalie Clein, will perform Haydn's Cello Concerto no. 1 in C, with the ECO in accompaniment.

The major choral piece in this concert is Bruckner's Mass in F minor, a work composed in 1867 as a thanksgiving for his return to health after a long-term illness.

The line-up of soloists includes mezzo-soprano Claire Barnett-Jones, who was a finalist and winner of the Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2021.

Alongside her are two further prize-winners from the 2019 Grange Festival International Singing Competition, tenor Jaeil Kim and bass-baritone Jerome Knox, both awarded the Waynflete Prize.

Welsh soprano Elin Pritchard completes the line-up, another favourite at the Grange Festival.

This programme with the English Chamber Orchestra and Waynflete Singers, under the baton of Andrew Lumsden, promises to be an autumn highlight as live public performances return to Winchester Cathedral.

Tickets are on sale from Winchester Cathedral Box Office (01962 857275) and at www.tickets.winchester-cathedral.org.uk.