A VILLAGE church will come alive to the sound of music from the 18th century when members of the Avison Ensemble make their latest appearance.

The ensemble will present Our Lady of Sorrows at St Brandon’s Church, Brancepeth, near Durham at 7.30pm on Friday.

The Avison Ensemble present music by Vivaldi and Wassenair, as well as a performance of Pergolesi's celebrated Stabat Mater, in partnership with the Newcastle Early music Festival. International soloists soprano Julia Gooding and countertenor Robin Blaze, will be joining the ensemble under the direction of director and violinist, Pavlo Beznosiuk.

When the Neapolitan Brotherhood devoted to the grieving Virgin Mary commissioned the young but gravely ill Pergolesi to write a new setting of the Medieval religious poem Stabat Mater they could not have realised that they were helping to create one of the most influential pieces in the history of music.

With the scoring of two singers and strings - unusual for devotional music and caused by financial constraints - Pergolesi produced a score rich in effects of light and shade. The poem is interpreted as a sequence of dramatic images rather than a narrative.

Copied and arranged throughout the 18th century, the work is made more poignant by the fact that it was finished on Pergolesi's deathbed, at the tragically young age 26.

The Avison Ensemble, which plays on period instruments, is the North-East’s leading exponent of 18th century music, as well as being the standard bearer for Charles Avison -considered by many to be the most important English concerto composer of that period. Tickets are £12 and available from JG Windows Ltd, Central Arcade, Newcastle upon Tyne or on 0191-232 1356. Students with identity cars and under 18s free.

Email: info@jgwindows.comThere will also be a performance at King’s Hall, Newcastle University, at 7.30pm on Saturday.