MUSIC during William Shakespeare's time is to be explored by the 20-strong Pinsuti choir at Christ Church, Skipton.

The chamber group's autumn concert is presented in the 400th anniversary of his death in 1616 believed to be after a night out with friends Ben Jonson and Michael Drayton.

Among the gems of Elizabethan and Jacobian music to be performed at the concert on Saturday, November 12, will be compositions by Thomas Tallis, Orland Gibbons and Willian Byrd, contemporaries of the Bard.

"Most Heavenly Music! Shakespeare's Musical World" will see the choir tackling "Salvator mundi, O nata lus, Miserere Nostri" by Thomas Tallis and Ave verum corpus, Justorum anima" by William Byrd, who worked with Tallis for some years.

Choir member , Alan Wingfield, said: "We love performing at Christ Church as it has a fantastic acoustic and also the benefit of reasonably comfy chairs! The theme of the concert is music either from Shakespeare's time or setting Shakespeare's lines to music.

"The first half contains many delights from Shakespeare's time, including works by Tallis and Gibbons. In a fascinating pairing, the Gibbons version of Drop, Drop slow tears is followed by the modern day composition by Mealor of the same work.

"Then we finish the first half with some invited guest singers performing the stunning 40 part Tallis work "Spem in Allium".

The second half would include secular music of the same period such as "Silver Swan" by Gibbons, and Macfarrens' Shakespeare songs (19thC).

And the evening would end with the "challenging, quirky, upbeat and potentially surprising Shakespeare songs" by the Finnish composer Mäntyjärvi, he added.

Tickets are available from choir members or on the door.