The Orchestra of St John's are staging the third annual Music in the Abbey festival at Dorchester Abbey next week. The festival, which features eight concerts, gets under way next Friday with the orchestra's chamber group performing Brahms songs arranged for two clarinets, voice and strings by John Woolrich, followed by Schubert's Trout Quintet.

On Saturday afternoon, members of the public join the conductor John Lubbock to work on Mozart's Requiem Mass, which they will sing at an informal performance later that day. On Saturday evening the programme will include a rather special performance of Four Seasons, with Tessa Peak-Jones and Douglas Hodge narrating the poetry on Vivaldi's original score.

The first weekend of the festival continues on Sunday with a concert of works by Mozart and Haydn, with cellist Alice Neary playing Haydn's Cello Concerto in C major. Works by the classical masters are contrasted by a prize-winning piece by the OSJ's Associate Composer, Deirdre Gribbin.

A reception will take place in the interval at each concert to raise funds for Helen House Hospice. The festival continues until Sunday, September 10.