ACCLAIMED Hereford choir, Academia Musica, have added their voices to a major project which will form one of the centrepieces of Hereford’s celebrations to mark the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta.

Magna Carta Song Story is a dynamic coming together of music, digital art and dramatic poetry which will see the digital recreation of Hereford Castle as just one of its elements.

The piece is a collaboration between Hereford-born artist, Jason Hodges, dramatist/writer and county resident, Catherine Gilling and composer Randolph Alexander – who gives the project an international dimension – he is a US citizen living in China. Their creative partnership is known as Fugue Visions.

The Hereford-based choir under its director, Aryan Arji, is a semi-professional group with a growing international reputation and comprises musicians in residence at Hereford Sixth form college with aspiring student scholars. It recorded the music for Magna Carta Song Story in the atmospheric surroundings of Belmont Abbey.

Commenting on the recording, Aryan said, “We are delighted to lend our voices to this exciting project. Hereford is staging a number of events over the year and this promises to be one of the highlights. The music is based on music rooted in the ancient tradition from around King John’s time and the choir has had great fun preparing it. We look forward to performing it live at the launch event on May 8.”

Magna Carta Song Story will run from Friday, May 8 to Monday, July 6 and there will also be a performance of the music with video installation during the Three Choirs Festival. For more information, follow the project on Twitter @magnacartasongstory