THE East Cornwall Bach Choir, directed by Simon Ible, will present its May Festival at St Germans Church, Cornwall on the weekend of May 14 to 16.

The programme that opens the event on the Friday evening at 7.30pm is titled Baroque Splendour. The programme features guest soprano Patrizia Kwella performing Vivaldi?s solo motet Nulla in mundo pax sincera, and Handel?s Laudate Pueri Dominum with the choir.

Patrizia Kwella is one of Europe?s foremost baroque singers and this season appears in the Wigmore Hall Celebrity Series and with the acclaimed Florilegium ensemble at St John?s Smith Square in London. The choir also will perform Bach?s rousing Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden. Instrumental items performed by the Ten Tors Orchestra Chamber Ensemble will include violin concertos by Bach and Telemann.

The Saturday evening performance and the highlight of the weekend is Haydn?s dramatic oratorio The Creation. Haydn?s music is set to a text drawn from two primary sources, the Book of Genesis and John Milton?s epic poem Paradise Lost.

The solos are passionate and operatic, the choruses dramatic and uplifting and the orchestration is the composer?s most brilliant. In this work Haydn draws together his highly developed skills as symphonist, choral maestro, operas impresario and chamber musician. The choir is joined by the festival orchestra, and its leader Paul Mathews for this occasion.

The soloists are soprano Patrizia Kwella, tenor Andrew Kennedy who is currently appearing in Covent Garden?s new production of Offenbach?s Tales of Hoffman, and baritone Adrian Powter. Adrian?s TV appearances have included Opera Works, a series of opera master-classes with Jonathan Miller, for BBC 2.

The St Germans Festival is completed on the Sunday at 6.00pm with a choral evensong of serene music by Thomas Tomkins and Thomas Tallis. This music is the perfect complement to the wonderful and awesome magnificence of St Germans Church.

Festival director, Simon Ible said: ?The East Cornwall Bach Choir St Germans Festival is very much a highlight in the music calendar of the region. The acoustic of the church lends itself perfectly to choral and orchestral music.

?We are also grateful to Lord Eliot for opening the gates of his riverside estate for pre-concert picnics,? he said.

?This year we have music from three eras Renaissance, Baroque and Classical, wonderful soloists, the Ten Tors Orchestra Chamber Ensemble and of course the East Cornwall Bach Choir and Orchestra. It?s going to be a great weekend.?

Tickets, from £8 to £12, are available from Liskeard Town Information Centre (01579 349148), In Other Words, Mutley Plain, Plymouth (01752 663889) or on the door.