'Spring into Summer' is the aptly named concert due to take place next month when the widely acclaimed London-based Tallis Chamber Choir pays a visit to Tavistock to perform a programme of sacred and secular music.
The concert in the parish church will be conducted by Philip Simms, who founded the Thomas Tallis Society in 1965 when he was appointed organist and choirmaster at St Alfege's Parish Church in Greenwich.
The seasons have inspired composers throughout history and this programme on Friday, May 12, will include pieces by Vaughan Williams, Britten, John Rutter and Tallis plus some familiar and lighter suprises.
Philip Simms formed the Thomas Tallis Choir in 1982 to give concerts with the English Chamber Orchestra with whom, at the time, he was a player.
He has conducted in all London's major concert halls and in Europe with orchestras from Budapest, Paris and Vienna. He has also conducted opera in Spain, Portugal and France.
In addition to his hectic schedule of conducting engagements, Philip remains organist and choirmaster at St Alfege's where Thomas Tallis worked and is buried.
The choir's schedule in the past year alone has included performances at the Royal Festival Hall, once with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Vladimir Ashkenazy, the London Chamber Orchestra at the Aldeburgh Festival and the Barbican with the Russian National Orchestra.
Last autumn they performed a series of concerts at the Wratislavia Festival in Poland.
In addition, they have visited many venues in the UK including the Old Royal Naval College Chapel, London House, Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons (where the sandwiches provided for the choir were considered particularly good!) and several provincial theatres and churches.
The choir has a number of commercial recordings to its credit, several with the English Chamber Orchestra. They have appeared on British and Irish TV, made several documentaries, broadcast for the BBC, French, German and Irish radio, made commercial backing tracks and with the ECO performed twice at Buckingham Palace.
The concert in aid of St Luke's Hospice has been organised by the Tavistock Friends of St Luke's along with many other groups of Friends in the area who are committed to raising fundings for the hospice which costs around £1-million a year to run.
'Spring into Summer' begins at 7.30pm. Tickets are £8, concessions £6 from The Garden Shed, Brook Street, and Book Stop, Market Street, or call 01822 612122.