Haslemere Musical Society will round off the year with an inventive blend of festive favourites and a last dose of sunshine at its December 6 concert at Haslemere Hall, conducted by Dr James Ross.

While Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker remains inseparable from the Christmas season, HMS will offer a fresh take on the classic by performing a selection of the more extended and dramatic scenes from Act I of the ballet, rather than the familiar suite.

In contrast there will be two works with a summery feel – Rossini’s overture The Italian Girl in Algiers, which he composed in just three weeks, aged 21, and Saint-Saëns charming Suite Algérienne, inspired by his first of many holidays there.

The concert’s principal choral offering is Haydn’s Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo, widely known as the “Little Organ Mass”, composed in 1777 during the composer’s winter stay with the Brothers of Mercy at Eisenstadt. Its prominent organ solos will showcase HMS rehearsal pianist and assistant chorus master Clive Osgood on a modern digital instrument. The performance also marks a milestone for HMS, being the chorus’s first major outing under the direction of Catherine Olver, the society’s first female chorus master since 2000.

Osgood’s own work also features. The evening will conclude with a new orchestration of his 2023 arrangement of I Saw Three Ships, alongside carols by Rutter, Gardner and Chilcott.

The concert begins at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from Haslemere Hall on 01428 642161.