Grayshott's new choir Excelsis, received a tumultuous standing ovation for their performance of Vivaldi's 'Gloria' at their debut concert in Grayshott on Saturday.

The event, organised by Grayshott Concerts at St Luke's Church, marked the culmination of four months of intense activity in forming a new choir from scratch and rehearsing for the event. The choir, whose members had never sung together before, achieved a faultless performance of Vivaldi's most popular choral work and were joined by two soloists with international reputations. Judith Howarth, Soprano, is currently starring as Madam Butterfly at the London Coliseum for English National Opera and Mezzo-Soprano, Yvonne Fontane, is much in demand for her performances as Carmen. Together they wowed the packed church with works by Vivaldi, Mozart, Pergolesi and Faure.

Excelsis' Conductor and Director of Music, Robert Lewis, was especially delighted with the Choir's performance. "It's been a lot of hard work finding and training good singers for the choir, but they performed wonderfully on the night. I'm very proud of them and the high standards they've achieved."

Grayshott Concerts Artistic Director, Vivien Harrison, has been quietly confident throughout. "We knew it would be a huge challenge creating a top class chamber choir in such a short time, but the opportunity came for us to invite our two world class soloists to Grayshott to sing with Excelsis in February so the race was on. Robert and Excelsis have been absolutely brilliant, and their singing with Judith and Yvonne was just stupendous. They have made such a triumph for the village."

Grayshott Concerts supporters, Pat and David Barrett, said they were 'blown away' by the whole experience. "It was really wonderful and all blended together so well. We could hardly believe that the choir only started in October. They were so good. We loved the soloists too. It's terrific to have such high quality performers here in the village again."

Excelsis choir member, Sarah Evans, said: "It was great fun to sing together with such talented singers and soloists. We were all pretty nervous before the event, but all the practice paid off and we were very proud of our performance."

Booking for Grayshott Concerts next event. "Look! It's Bruch!" on Saturday 12th April at 7.30, featuring the popular Bruch Violin Concerto No.1 is already well under way with over half the tickets now sold. Sponsors for the series are Applegarth Farm and Huntington House. Tickets are £15 & £17.50 from Blaze House Art, 01428 606888; or Grayshott Concerts, 01428 606666; or through www.grayshottconcerts.co.uk