Dorchester Choral Society will begin rehearsals next week for one of its greatest challenges yet - a performance of Britten's War Requiem in Poole's Wessex Hall next February.

This massive undertaking will be performed n conjunction with Dorchester Thomas Hardye School Chapel Choir, the Occasional Singers, Imperial College Orchestra from London and musicians from Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

In the run-up to the War Requiem, the choral society singers kept their vocal chords well oiled during a week-long visit to France for a pan-European choral gathering called Chante l'Europe.

There were 200 singers from seven countries plus 70 musicians taking part and the highlight of the week was a performance of Puccini's Messa di Gloria in Bayeux Cathedral in Normandy.

Thirty five members of Dorchester Choral Society and its director Christine Page, took part in this remarkable musical experience, which was led by the conductor of the choir L'Orpheon de Bayeux, Isabelle Genevieve.

The final concert involving all 200 singers, dressed in T-shirts of a different colour for each country (English in blue), included a new work commissioned for the occasion from composer and organist Valery Aubertin, who travelled from Paris for rehearsals and the premiere. Each choir also gave a concert on its own in the cathedral and another in the square outside.

Dorchester Choral Society will perform Handel's Messiah on Saturday, December 13 in St Mary's Church, Dorchester and Britten's War Requiem at The Lighthouse, Poole on Sunday, February 29, 2004.