YORKSHIRE'S premier choral course returns to Ampleforth Abbey next week, cementing its growing reputation among lovers of choral music by giving what promises to be an entertaining and moving concert.

It will be the fifth time the abbey has been the setting for this annual event. Thursday's programme consists of Janacek’s setting of the Lord's Prayer, Otcenas, and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solonelle. Both pieces are well suited to the setting and atmosphere of the abbey church.

The five-day choral course attracts participants from near and far. This year there are singers from Ampleforth village, all around Yorkshire and the rest of the UK, as well as from the Netherlands, and to add an international flavour, there is even one from Toronto, Canada.

Lynn Hudson, one of the course directors, says this is due in no small part to the welcome received from the abbey and the people of Ryedale.

The work by Janacek is one of two religious pieces he composed in 1906 when he was in his early 50s and renowned for orchestral compositions and the strong melodic overtones of operas such as The Cunning Little Vixen and Janufa.

Rossini's Petite Messe Solonelle, notable for its beauty and originality, can be seen as having the melodic overtones of the operas of his earlier years. It was composed in Paris in 1864 in the late years of his life, though he afterwards revised it for full orchestra as he deprecatingly put it: "to prevent anyone else doing so after his death" – in fact, he died three months before its first performance in this version, in 1869.

The conductor is Thom Meredith, founder director of the choral course as well as being well known for his work as a baritone soloist. His recent performances in Ripon Cathedral include Faure’s Requiem and the premiere of Patrick Lee’s Sacrifices.

HFC is pleased to welcome back Sarah Ogden (soprano) and Paul Gibson (bass), who are joined this year by Julianne Young (mezzo soprano) and Nicholas Watts (tenor).

Support for northern trained musicians continues with instrumentalists Elinor Nicholson (harp) and Jonathan Scott (harmonium) completing the line-up of soloists.

Formed in 2008, the annual chorus course draws singers and musicians from all over Yorkshire and further afield for five days each August. Music directors Thom Meredith and Lynn Hudson are supported by accompanists Beryl Pankhurst and Chris Pulleyn and administrator Ellie Pike, all of whom are involved in music and choirs in the Yorkshire area.

Tickets for the performance, which starts at 7.30pm, are £15 (£12 concessions), available at the door or in advance from Elijah Todd Newsagents, Helmsley.