SIR Mark Elder will conduct the Hallé Orchestra and Hallé Choir and Youth Choir in Elgar's The Dream Of Gerontius on Saturday, presented in York Minster by the Ryedale Festival.

Joining the orchestra and choirs in the 7.30pm performance will be tenor David Butt Philip, contralto Claudia Huckle and bass Neal Davies, as Sir Mark gathers his forces for a work that prompted Elgar to write "This is the best of me" on completion of a score full of passion, blazing virtuosity, momentous climaxes and a profound sense of mystery.

The Dream Of Gerontius opens with the dying Gerontius, an everyman character, commending his soul to God and praying with his friends for a safe passage into the next life. Elgar’s choral work follows his journey through death, where Gerontius meets the guardian angel who guides him past his demons and a brief moment facing the Almighty before leaving him among all the souls in Purgatory to await final salvation.

Explaining how this concert – outside Ryedale Festival's summer run – came to fruition, Sir Mark says: "The festival chairman, Richard Shephard, is one of my oldest friends, and I've always said in my 18 years at the Hallé that we must come over to York Minster but we've never presented a concert there, so now we are and we hope to do so again in the future."

Looking forward to conducting 80 orchestral players and the Hallé choirs in the Minster in his Ryedale Festival debut, Sir Mark says: "It's a dream to be performing Elgar's music there, playing a work written at a time when no-one else was writing with such intensity. 'Gerontius' is overall rather a good piece to do in the acoustic of an ecclesiastical building because a lot of the music is ritualistic and slow moving, so that stillness will sound wonderful, but the loud parts will sound amazing too.

"One of the things that will help is that the choirs will be raised up and will provide a barrier for the sound not to disappear, instead coming back off the stonework."

Ryedale Festival presents the Hallé Orchestra and Hallé Choir and Youth Choir, performing Elgar's The Dream Of Gerontius, at York Minster on Saturday, 7.30pm. Tickets cost £20 to £40 on 01751 475777 or at box.office@ryedalefestival.com