THEY are more used to singing Lady Gaga and Jessie J tracks but a Witney choir will take on a famous choral work when they line up at one of the country’s most iconic venues.

Some 35 members of the West Oxfordshire Academy of Performing Arts’s adult singing group will be part of a 3,000- strong choir at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Sunday.

They will sing choruses from Handel’s Messiah, written in 1741, in front of a sell-out audience at the 5,272-seat venue.

It will be the 40th anniversary of Messiah from Scratch, a mass choral participation event held each year in the run-up to Christmas.

Academy principal Brian Conroy said: “Our choir normally sing more contemporary songs.

“For some of these people it’s been a complete change in what they would normally do and outside their singing comfort zones.

“It’s the first time we’ve taken part and will probably be the biggest concert any of our members have performed at.

“The sound will be absolutely incredible and it’s really good to be part of it – it’s a great kickstart to Christmas.”

The academy is based at Henry Box School but the choir, which has 80 members, has weekly rehearsals at Open Doors on the Windrush Industrial Park.

It applied at the start of this year to The Really Big Chorus – which organises the concert – to perform.

Groups taking part have had separate rehearsals and Sunday’s performance will be the first time the academy members will have sung with the rest of the massed choir.

The concert will be conducted by broadcaster Brian Kay, the conductor of the Burford Singers, who lives in Fulbrook, and recorded by Abbey Road Studios.

Mr Conroy said: “We saw the opportunity and offered it to members in addition to what we normally do.

“We’re just a group of singers from Witney and normally do local performances, so it’s going to be incredible performing in that venue.

“Some people haven’t even been in there to watch a concert so it will be a completely new experience.”

Diane Mullenger, 53, of Orchard Way, Witney, joined the choir two and a half years ago and said she was looking forward to the event.

The legal secretary said: “I’ve never been to the Royal Albert Hall, so I’m a bit nervous, but it will be really fantastic.

“Messiah is the most intense thing I’ve done and different to what we usually sing. It [the choir] is the best thing I’ve ever joined and we’re like a big family.”