Mozart's magnificent, yet unfinished, Requiem was completed by his contemporary, Süssmayer, using the composer's sketches. The mysterious circumstances surrounding the composition of this masterpiece, in which a commission from an anonymous stranger persuaded the composer he was writing his own musical obituary, have been made widely familiar by Peter Schaffer's play Amadeus.

The Requiem forms the moving climax to a programme of vividly contrasting choral works. Lo, the full, final sacrifice, Finzi's beautiful setting of a poem by the 17th-century poet, Thomas Traherne, is complemented by Britten's Cantata Misericordium, a striking dramatisation of the Parable of the Good Samaritan composed to celebrate the centenary of the Red Cross in 1963.

All three works explore common themes of human vulnerability, the awareness of mortality and the individual's search for redemption and the nature of compassion and mercy, both human and divine.

The concert will be introduced by Roderick Swanston, lecturer and frequent broadcaster on Radio 3 and well known for his ability to combine immense learning with great wit and enthusiasm.

In addition to having priority booking from 12th April 1999, Friends of the Choir and their guests have been granted exclusive access to The Combe by kind permission of Mr and Mrs Tudway-Quilter. Bring a pre-concert picnic or just relax in this lovely garden and soak up the atmosphere! Tickets are available to the general public from 10th May 1999