After a jam-packed first year that included performing Bach's St John Passion, Vaughan Wiliam's Serenade to Music, Mozart's Requiem, Vaughan Williams's Mass in G Minor, a phenomenal candlelit Christmas concert (and more besides), we're kicking off our rehearsals this week with our next project: Bach's St Matthew Passion.

We've already made a start working on this, under the guidance of our Artistic Director, Robert Marshall, and we're already very excited about what the next couple of months hold in store for us. Bach's St Matthew Passion, is such an emotionally rich and enrapturing piece and, while most (if not all of us) in the choir have heard it before, for some of us, this will be the first time that we get our teeth into performing it.

And, as if the quality of the music weren't excellent enough, we're overjoyed that Tom Raskin (BBC Singers) is returning as our Evangelist, and that we'll be be welcoming back Georgie Malcolm (Soprano), Catherine Backhouse (Alto), David Lee (Tenor), and Jon Stainsby (Bass & Jesus) as our soloists.

We'll have more to report here as we continue rehearsing, and tickets will be available in due course. For now, however, please visit again to see how we're getting on. And please put the St Matthew Passion in your diary: 2pm on Saturday, 19 April, at Melrose Parish Church.