HARWICH Sing’s next generation of young vocal talent will be warming up the stage at a popular venue before a world-class jazz harpist gets the crowds going.

The choir will be singing at the Harwich Arts and Heritage Centre in Main Road on December 21 before a concert by musician Alina Bzhezhinska.

Alina has performed at Balmoral Castle for the Queen’s 80th birthday and has played at iconic venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, the Barbican, the Globe Theatre and Ronnie Scott’s with her various jazz ensembles.

Her concert will be the second of two Harwich Festival seasonal musical evenings at the Arts and Heritage Centre, the first of which is a performance by Dutch jazz trio Under The Surface on December 19.

For the one-off December 21 date, Harwich Sing NexGen will be singing songs spanning several decades including hits by Eva Cassidy, Beyonce, Coldplay and Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

Clare Leach, the founder of Harwich Sing, said: “It will be lovely to be part of this exciting programme.

"We look forward to bringing a bit of local talent to the table and then sit back and enjoying Alina Bzhezhinska’s performance.”

Simon Ashley, Harwich Festival programming committee member, said: “We learned Harwich Sing were not going to hold their traditional Christmas concert at St Nicholas’ Church this year, so we approached Clare Leach about one of her troupes singing at our event.

“We are thrilled to have been able to secure a booking of a musician of the calibre of Alina Bzhezhinska and we thought adding Harwich Sing to the bill would make for a truly special night.

“We are delighted Clare agreed and has conceived a fantastic programme just for this Harwich Festival event.

 “We are offering a discount to everyone who books a ticket for both concerts in advance.

“And all ticket holders will be given a free glass of mulled wine on entry.

“Just go to harwichfestival.com to purchase your tickets and take advantage of the special offer."