IN Friday’s festival concert, Hexham Abbey welcomed back one of its own, Ben Rowarth, former choral and organ scholar, now composer, conductor and member of the Renaissance chamber choir which he founded back in 2011.

Their last visit was three years ago and in the intervening period they have won a national reputation with their precision a cappella singing, unusual presentation and maturity, plus the sheer joy they bring to their music.

They presented mainly 16th century music in the 13th century north transept – a style of medieval music well attuned to the Abbey acoustic.

The programme was designed to show the astonishingly wide range of styles, from Byrd to Monteverdi, in this exciting period for music.

The programme premiered Ben’s latest composition, A Face , divided into two parts, one each side of the interval. It contained some stunning sound shifting as the two lovers drew inextricably and tragically apart.

There followed a wonderfully tranquil interpretation of Orlando Gibbon’s Drop, drop, slow tears before concluding with Monteverdi’s Rimanti in pace .

All told, we enjoyed a rich and varied feast of Renaissance music, sensitively and thoughtfully performed by a young and talented group of six, all singing as one.