To mark the 70th birthday in 2025 of the Farnham-based Waverley Singers, award-winning composer Owain Park has accepted a commission to write a choral work for the choir.

Owain is also a singer, organist and choir conductor who performed Bruckner Motets with the BBC Singers at the BBC Proms on September 1.

He said: “It is an enormous pleasure to have been asked to write this new piece for the Waverley Singers.

“The musical seeds have been planted and I'm excited to begin composing. I'm planning to build a work in several movements, and look forward to developing the strands into a fledged work for choir and piano, and of course hearing the choir sing it for the first time.”

The commission was made possible by late choir member and secretary Josephine Baker – usually known as Jo Reader - who lived at Pierrepont Farm near Frensham and left money to the Waverley Singers.

Owain’s work will be premiered at St Mary’s Church in Frensham on June 22, 2025. The choir will perform Mendelssohn’s Elijah at St Andrew’s Garrison Church in Aldershot on March 22, and A Musical Odyssey at St Thomas-on-The Bourne Church on October 19. For tickets visit waverleysingers.com