CLEVELAND Philharmonic Choir, well-known in the North-East for its outstanding performances, is assembling soloists and choral groups from across the region for an unmissable evening of music-making at Sage Gateshead.

The date of the concert is Saturday, November 10, marking the eve of the centenary of the Armistice that ended the First World War.

The work is one which grew out of war’s destruction – Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem – composed for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral in 1962, built to replace the medieval building that had been destroyed in a bombing raid in 1940.

Woven throughout the music are settings of the war poetry of Wilfred Owen, the soldier poet who was killed on November 4, just a week before hostilities ended. His words paint vividly the realities of war for ordinary soldiers.

They will be sung by tenor Mark Padmore and baritone Roderick Williams, leading soloists on the world’s concert and opera stages, accompanied by a small orchestra conducted by Gary Matthewman.

Originally from Scarborough, Matthewman is widely known as a song pianist with artists such as Padmore and Williams and Cleveland Philharmonic Choir’s president, Sir Thomas Allen, but is also developing a name as a conductor.

Two more layers of sound complete the fabric of the work.

A choir of 200 comprising Cleveland Philharmonic Choir with guest choirs Newcastle Choral Society and Northern Spirit Singers, with soprano soloist Rachel Nicholls, sing words of the Requiem Mass, set in wonderfully imaginative ways. They are accompanied by the Ripon-based professional Mowbray Orchestra, which draws its excellent players from all over the North of England. These forces will be conducted by John Forsyth.

From high above the massed choirs will come the ethereal sound of a group of 40 young singers from Cleveland Philharmonic Intermediate Choir, with choristers from Durham Cathedral and St Peter’s Church, Stockton, conducted by Daniel Cook, Master of the Choristers of Durham Cathedral, accompanied by Francesca Massey, the cathedral’s sub-organist.

This intensely moving, atmospheric work, just over an hour long, speaks to everyone.

So keen is Cleveland Philharmonic Choir to make it easy for Teessiders to support its local choir that it has arranged coach transport for audience members from Teesside Park for the evening. Full details are on the Cleveland Philharmonic Choir website clevelandphilharmonicchoir.com.

The choir recently issued an appeal to children to join its two young choirs – one entirely new – which offer training and lots of opportunities to perform. The junior choir is for boys and girls in years 5, 6 and 7 and is led by Isaac Conroy, a musician just finishing his studies at Durham University.

John Forsyth, former music adviser for Cleveland, directs the intermediate choir for those in year 8 and above. This choir is new, and was formed to allow junior choir singers to progress.

Their challenging first performance will be singing Britten’s War Requiem alongside the choristers of Durham Cathedral and St Peter’s Church, Stockton, at the Sage on November 10.

New singers can go along to any rehearsal on a trial basis. Sessions are on Tuesdays, 5.30-6.30pm, at St Barnabas Church, Linthorpe, Middlesbrough. The website clevelandphilharmonicchoir.com/junior-choirs has more details.