HIGHLIGHTS from West Side Story and a programme of music for peace feature in two choral concerts, which are due to take place on successive nights in Kidderminster Town Hall.

Leonard Bernstein's score for the recreation of Romeo and Juliet, which was set in the streets of New York contains some of the most memorable songs that anyone has written, from Maria to Tonight and Gee, Officer Krupke, with the lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.

Wyre Forest Young Voices, the youth choir of the Kidderminster Choral Society, celebrates its return from a half-term tour of Poland with some of Bernstein's finest music on November 26.

The concert is due to start at 7.30pm and is also set to include some of the items the choir sang during its time overseas.

Beginning at the same time, on the following night, the choral society will be in action to perform three major works, chosen before recent events in Iraq.

Musical director Geoffrey Weaver explained: "The music will reach out to many in our audience who are longing for an end to the daily horrors of the Middle East."

He will conduct the society and the Elgar Sinfonia in Dvorak's Te Deum and two great appeals for peace.

These are Dona Nobis Pacem, which Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote as a warning against war in the 1930s.

The other is Kodaly's Psalmus Hungaricus, which dates from 1923.

Tickets for either concert are available from the town hall or the library in Kidderminster, Bewdley Books or Bob Powell on 01562 60112.