CELEBRATING its 90th anniversary this year, Bournemouth Symphony Chorus is fast securing a reputation to match the Symphony Orchestra.

That's even more of an achievement when you learn that, unlike the professional orchestra, the BSC is made up of local, unpaid singers.

The choir was founded in 1911 as Bournemouth Municipal Choir, rehearsing and performing in the Winter Gardens with an astonishing 241 members by the outbreak of the First World War.

The rigours of performing were far from demanding, however. The choir performed only three concerts a year, with tea served between the concerts ... for ladies only. (A motion to offer tea to gentlemen was comprehensively defeated.)

The Municipal Choir went on to flourish under directors including Sir Charles Groves, Roy Henderson and Bernard Keeffe until 1979, when it came under the wing of the Western Orchestral Society.

Renamed the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus, to match the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the choir relocated to Poole Arts Centre.

Today the choir, directed by Neville Crees, boasts some 170 members and travels extensively around the country.

Concerts have increased to around 20 a year, while recent projects include an inclusion on the Richard Blackford's Emmy-winning soundtrack of the BBC series Millennium.

The BSO and Chorus were also jointly awarded a Grammy for the Best Choral Recording of 1997 with Belshazzar's Feast.

"This choir is the community," says choir manager and secretary Carolyn Date. "We've got people from all sections of society. There are teachers, librarians, parents, some unemployed people.

"We're not professionals, but we work hard to achieve that standard.

"The thing about music is that if it's in you, it's as natural as breathing. What's more, every member is as important as everyone else.

"I remember someone once saying that it was harder to be in a large choir because if you make a mistake then you mess it up for 200 people!"

To celebrate their 90th birthday, the Chorus wanted to mark the occasion with a commission for a large-scale new work for adult and youth choirs with instrumental ensemble, which would be contemporary but with a lasting position in the choral repertoire.

"We wanted to come up with a major new piece, but something that was relevant to today and could be performed again," says choir publicity officer Nicky Hoar, whose husband also sings with the choir and whose daughter is part of the associated Bournemouth Youth Choir.

"Of course, we didn't realise how topical Richard Blackford's piece was going to be. In Bournemouth there are a lot of refugees and asylum seekers - and although Britain has traditionally had a good record in offering asylum, there are now far more tensions.

"It's a very challenging work as the music is so hard. There are tricky time signatures, lots of syncopation, but the work is very listenable."

Although the work was written earlier this year, the timing of the concert could not be more pertinent.

"Richard Blackford has put his finger on the pulse of the moment with this work. Our first rehearsal took place just after the attacks on America on September 11, and people were crying.

"One movement says: 'It has happened, and it keeps happening', and I thought: 'My God, that's happened again'."

Tonight's performance features both the BSC and the Bournemouth Youth Choir, while the BSC will perform the work at the Royal Festival Hall on Monday night and hope to record the piece on CD.

The birthday celebrations are, however, a little bitter-sweet for the choir. A recent performance of Carl Orff's rousing Carmina Burana at the Winter Gardens looks like being their last at their original home.

"The chorus is very attached to the Winter Gardens," says Carolyn Date. "We have appreciated the support of the elected members who have stood up to support it.

"We have an excellent venue and wonderful support in Poole Arts Centre, but we still feel a little sad that we probably won't perform at the Winter Gardens again."

CHRIS LAWRENSON