A CHORAL concert featuring works by Bridport composers was a sell-out, organisers said.

St Mary’s Church, Bridport, was packed with a capacity audience on April 9 to hear The New Elizabethan Singers (NES) and The Broadoak Choir combined to perform two choral pieces written by local composers.

Matt Kingston (pen-name Matthew Coleridge) has directed the NES since 2011. His Requiem integrates broad, lush vocal harmonies with exhilarating organ, string and percussion accompaniments and solo passages.

He said the work, which has been performed in the US and Europe as well as in the UK, was inspired by 'the joy of the arrival of my first child and the beauty of the Dorset countryside'.

NES bass Chris Reynolds has lived and worked in the area for 30 years. With roots in folk and jazz, he has also written several liturgical pieces for the small ‘a cappella’ Broadoak Choir. His 2019 choral cantata Three Trees, is a mystical, moving meditation on crucifixion and redemption; it reflects on the mystery and magic of real trees and the beauty of creation; and how close humankind is to destroying it.

The audience were said to be delighted and the church echoed with resounding applause for both pieces.

A spokesman said: "It was a concert of wonderfully uplifting music, grown organically in the Marshwood Vale and composed and performed by Dorset talent."