A LOCAL choir will be spreading seasonal cheer across the nation this evening.

A carol recording by Mosaic Chamber Choir is to be broadcast on Classic FM Drive tonight (20 December), shortly after 6pm.

The Woking-based singers were selected from choirs all across the UK in the Making Music and Classic FM carol competition.

“The pandemic has hugely impacted singing and choral opportunities,” said Mosaic chairman Tom Griffiths. “It was so important to Mosaic to continue to find ways to safely make music together: music is good for the soul!

“Having our performance selected in the Classic FM and Making Music carol competition is a wonderful way to round off the year.”

The carol selected by Classic FM is Mosaic’s virtual choir recording of Veni Veni Emmanuel by Dr Michael John Trotta, a contemporary American composer. Choir members enjoyed the chance to meet Dr Trotta and to discuss the piece with him on Zoom before making the recording.

The choir then recorded the piece in lockdown 2020 and originally released it as part of their free virtual choir concert last Christmas.

Mosaic associate musical director Sarah Kerr, who led the choir in the 2020 virtual concert, said: “Performing as a virtual choir had its challenges – getting to grips with 'click tracks', snatching recordings when families were out to avoid background noise, draping surfaces with cushions and blankets to deaden echo. It was a learning curve.”

For a choir used to giving Christmas concerts from St Mary’s Church in Horsell, this will be their largest audience for a performance – Classic FM has around 5.7m listeners, making it the biggest classical music radio station in the world.

Organisers of the carol competition, Making Music, said: “Over the last year and more, music groups have grappled with a raft of challenges and changing restrictions, and yet still managed to make music together online, in person and combinations of both, all in brilliantly creative ways. We are delighted to celebrate our member groups with this chance to star on the radio!”

The choir’s success is bittersweet, having since lost one of their members who performed in the recording to cancer. Anna Jones was a long-standing member of the choir, singing alto and remaining dedicated to choir rehearsals and performances throughout her illness.

The choir has been fundraising for Woking Hospice this Christmas and hopes that audiences who enjoy the recording will also donate in her memory at https://www.wsbhospices.co.uk/support-us/get-involved/donate/

* YOU can hear the carol on Mosaic's Youtube channel, by going to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4vozINliEY