In just over a week’s time the East Oxford Community Choir will be tackling Part One of St Paul, Mendelssohn’s first and often overlooked oratorio. This epic work might seem a tad ambitious for a choir formed from an eclectic group of East Oxford residents – from experienced singers through to those with no singing experience at all – but with works such as Bernstein’s Mass, Carmina Burana and Carmen under their belts, this looks set to be another success by this enthusiastic group.

Add to that the vocal ensemble Interlude, from Oxford’s twin town of Grenoble in France, plus an Anglo-French orchestra made up of professional, semi-professional and experienced amateur players, and you have a formidable combination.

The East Oxford Community Choir was formed by local music teacher Mel Houldershaw in 1996, and grew from a youth choir she had started four years earlier. The link with Interlude began in 2001, and St Paul will be the French choir’s fifth appearance in Oxford.

“It’s quite a taxing piece, but within the choir’s capabilities,” says Chris Emlyn-Jones, a founder member of the choir, who will be singing the bass solos.

“It’s got some good, gutsy choruses – which is nice – plus solos. The combined choir is about 100 singers, with more women than men, as usual! It’s a big orchestra, too, with trombones, trumpets and a serpent.

“The Conversion of Paul is extremely dramatic. An absolute masterstroke is when God says: ‘Why are you persecuting me?’ You’d expect a bass to sing God, but what Mendelssohn does is to give God to the female chorus. It’s a real masterpiece, and absolutely spine-tingling.

“We are only doing Part One. There are two very distinct parts – Part One is the Conversion of Paul, and next year we’re going to do the second part, which is Paul’s ministry. It’s a long piece, and I think if we did it all it would be much too long. I believe in brevity!”

St Paul has become largely eclipsed by Mendelssohn’s later oratorio, Elijah, and Chris is relishing the opportunity to turn the spotlight on this lesser-known work.

“It was the inspiration of the Grenoble conductor, Jean Ménissier, who is very good at finding neglected masterpieces,” he tells me. “Mendelssohn was very much influenced by Bach, and St Paul is a romantic version of Bach’s Passions, with arias, chorales and choruses, and the chorus alternate between being good Christians, expressing very elevated sentiments, and being crowd.

“More than any other piece I know, it’s got the right to be called a neglected masterpiece. There are recordings of it, but if you go into Blackwell’s there are about five recordings of Elijah and one of St Paul!

“So we thought it would be nice to do something that isn’t done very often. Also, we’ve done a lot of classical baroque until now, so it’s nice to do something that’s early Romantic.

“I think St Paul is particularly interesting because Mendelssohn’s father converted from Judaism to Christianity, and of course that’s what happened to Paul. So for Mendelssohn there was something very personal here.”

The combined choirs performed the work last month in Grenoble, and the EOCC members are looking forward to welcoming the French choir to Oxford. “They like coming here, and we like going there. The two choirs get on extremely well. We’re quite similar in some respects – their choir also consists of a variety of abilities of people who enjoy singing.”

Chris, who recently retired as Professor of Classics for the Open University after 30 years, has been a keen amateur musician for most of his life. A former chorister of New College, he had singing lessons many years ago, and has recently resumed his studies with the Oxfordshire-based baritone Quentin Hayes.

“This is my most ambitious project, so I’ve had to up my game!” he chuckles. “Quentin has helped me enormously, especially with things like singing German.”

Chris’s fellow soloists include soprano Helen Maxey, a regular soloist with EOCC, who will also be performing Mozart’s Exultate Jubilate, and tenor Robin Whitehouse, an Oxford graduate who has also studied singing at the Royal College of Music. The alto soloist is Bruno Cornec, from Grenoble, an experienced singer who specialises in sacred music of the Renaissance.

Future plans for the East Oxford Community Choir include an autumn fund-raising event, at which they will perform pieces written by members of the choir, and their customary Christmas concert. Next year will see them tackling Part 2 of St Paul, as well as reprising Part 1.

“It’s an extremely dramatic work,” emphasises Chris. “Although it’s early Mendelssohn it’s quite mature, so it’s a really good piece.”

Mendelssohn’s St Paul – The Conversion, performed by the East Oxford Community Choir and Interlude, is at Dorchester Abbey on Friday, May 14, at 8pm, and SS Mary and John Church, Cowley Road, Oxford, on Saturday, May 15, at 5pm. Box office: 01865 305305 (www.oxfordplayhouse.com/ticketsoxford).