Lovers of Baroque music are in for a treat courtesy of The South Wessex Organ Society as it presents another in its ongoing series of Bach Vespers services.

The event takes place on Sunday, February 2 at 4pm at St Swithun’s Church, North Allington, Bridport, which is a new venue for the society.

The service is based around Bach’s cantata Ich habe genug (‘I have enough’), written for the Feast of the Purification (Candlemas) in 1727. Other music will include the Concerto in A for oboe d’amore, strings and continuo, also by Bach, and the motet When to the Temple Mary Went by Johannes Eccard.

The service is modelled on that devised for use at the Lutheran Church in London. It was prepared in 1982 by the Pastor, the Reverend Ronald Englund, and the Cantor, Peter Lea-Cox, in consultation with Robin A Leaver, the world-renowned expert on liturgical life in Leipzig at the time of JS Bach. Peter Lea-Cox is now the artistic director of SWOS and the musical director for this series of events.

The soloists will be Jim Wills (bass) and Nicki Woods (oboe d’amore), and there will be a choir of mainly local singers and a small orchestra of professional musicians. Lyme Regis-based musician Alex Davies will play the organ, and the Reverend Dan Shackell will lead the service.

SWOS has received a grant from the George Eyre Charitable Trust to help pay professional musicians for these events. “The grant allows us to bring this wonderful music to a wider audience, something that lies at the very heart of the society’s ethos,” says Peter Lea-Cox.

*Bach Vespers, South Wessex Organ Society, St Swithun’s Church, North Allington, Bridport, Sunday, February 2, 4pm. The service is free, although there will be a retiring collection.