A SPECIAL evening with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s Kokoro, pictured, can be enjoyed in a venue near you.

Quartet For The End of Time will see the BSO’s contemporary music ensemble giving performances at St Mary’s Church in Cerne Abbas and St Christopher’s Church in Winfrith. There will also be a special Spring concert in West Stafford.

In these unique concerts, an all-British first half features three short works inspired by the English baroque master Henry Purcell, including a new composition by Kokoro’s composer-in-residence, Hywel Davies, as well as Joe Duddell’s ‘Nightswimming’, which takes its starting point from a song by the American alternative rock band R.E.M.

In the second part of the concert, Kokoro will perform one of the finest achievements by the great French 20th century composer Olivier Messiaen, ‘Quartet for the End of Time’.

This extraordinary, visionary and moving piece was composed whilst Messiaen was incarcerated in a German prisoner of war camp, and the premiere, by the composer and three fellow prisoners, was performed to a huge audience of prisoners and guards.

Kokoro are at St Mary’s Church, Cerne Abbas on Saturday, January 31 at 7.30pm. Call 01300 341332 for tickets. They are then at St Christopher’s Church, Winfrith, on Saturday, March 7 at 7.30pm. Call 01305 852117.

On Friday, February 13 the BSO Resonate Strings travel to West Stafford Village Hall for a ‘Spring Serenade’.

These five musicians, one from each string section of the Orchestra will perform a concert displaying the diversity of music written for string ensembles, from Bach and Pachelbel to Piazzolla and Karl Jenkins.

Other highlights are Copland’s Hoe Down, Warlock’s Capriol Suite, and the first movement of Holst’s St Paul’s Suite. Call Sue Chamberlain for tickets on 01305 261984.

Ian Scott, director of Artsreach, said: “It is thrilling to be able to present this range of music from BSO ensembles in a single season.

“This is our 25th anniversary year and these concerts reflect many happy collaborative moments between Artsreach and the BSO over recent years.”

See artsreach.co.uk for more details.