IT IS a big year for Huddersfield Choral Society and as occasions go, next week’s concert will be one of the high notes.

For on Friday, the singers will take on perhaps one of their biggest challenges in recent years, the UK première of British composer Jonathan Harvey’s work, Messages.

A concert programme which also includes Bruckner’s Mass in E minor and Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms may surprise some but this is surely a sign of a Choral Society confident of its vocal powers and willing to celebrate its 175 years with the new as well as the established.

To conduct what for many will be another milestone concert in a remarkable history, the Choral welcomes back its Conductor Laureate Martyn Brabbins with the Orchestra of Opera North.

That he should return to conduct such a concert at Huddersfield Town Hall is perhaps no surprise. This is the man who when he was the Choral’s principal conductor, encouraged them to explore repertoire such as Rachmaninov’s haunting unaccompanied Vespers – performed in Reims and at the Cheltenham Music Festival – and choral music by Arnold Bax.

Martyn said: “I have huge admiration for the music of Jonathan Harvey.

“He has a unique and powerful musical voice and Jonathan’s music is extraordinarily beautiful.

“It is a privilege to present the UK premiere of Messages with the Huddersfield Choral Society who have approached the work with open and alert minds – I anticipate a memorable performance.”

The piece was written for the Berlin Radio Choir and its chief conductor Simon Halsey and was premiered three years ago in Berlin with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Reinbert de Leeuw.

Its composer Jonathan Harvey was born in Warwickshire, was a chorister at St Michael’s College, Tenbury and later a major music scholar at St John’s College, Cambridge.

Today he is renowned as a composer, working with orchestras, choirs and chamber ensembles all over the world.

The text of Messages consists entirely of the names of Judaic and Persian angels, conveying the idea of the choir itself as angels, bringing their spiritual messages to mankind.

And that is surely quite a challenge for any group of singers to tackle but it is one the Choral has relished.

Next week’s concert will also include Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms which was written in 1930.

It is scored for mixed chorus and orchestra, without violins, violas or clarinets, but including harp and two pianos.

The third work to be performed is the earliest, the Bruckner E minor Mass which was completed in 1866.

It is scored for eight-part mixed chorus and a wind band of two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets and three trombones.

The Choral’s musically demanding milestone year continues with a further performance of Handel’s Messiah, this time at the Barbican in London on April 22.

Coaches will take supporters from Huddersfield to London for the concert.

First though comes next Friday’s concert for which there is a pre-concert talk for ticket holders.

The final concert of the season will be a special performance of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius which will be held in Huddersfield Town Hall on June 18, the nearest date to that on which the choir was founded.