It would be madness for classical fans to miss the Haslemere Musical Society’s first concert of 2025 with a mix of choral delights and orchestra masterworks on offer.

Insanity and stupidity will be among the themes when the acclaimed group make their much-anticipated return to Haslemere Hall on Saturday, March 1.

The evening’s main work for voices will be Schubert’s Second Mass in G Major.

The piece gained little traction during Schubert’s lifetime with Richard Fuhrer, director of music at Prague Cathedral, later passing it off as his own before being jailed for embezzlement.

It’s now one of Schubert’s most popular mass pieces with soprano, Clare Loosley, tenor Richard Thesiger-Pratt and bassist Thomas Lydon being the soloists.

The HMS choir will also sing Haydn's motet Insanae et vanae curae – translated as ‘Insane and stupid worries flood our mind.’

The composer experienced initial public indifference to some of his works, including the 1775 oratorio Il ritorno di Tobia - but Insanae took on a life of its own after he extracted it from that oratorio as a stand-alone piece.

HMS continues to feature its own talented instrumental players in solo items. In their 2023 centenary year long-time cello section leader Anna Hunt enthralled with her virtuoso performance of the Schumann concerto.

This time she will play Bruch's hauntingly beautiful Kol Nidrei which draws from two Hebrew melodies. Bruch wrote it in 1880 for the local Jewish community during his spell as principal conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and it’s now his most performed work.

Dvorak's fifth symphony completes the programme. Performed less frequently than the composer's last three symphonies, the piece is pastoral in style and teeming with beautiful melodies that will stay long in the memory of those hearing it for the first time.