Philharmonic Society at the Hamilton Cathedral on Sunday and Monday for two performances of a concert that has never before been attempted on the Island.

Director Graham Garton will conduct Beethoven's massive `Choral' Symphony (No.

9 in D Minor). A total of 120 voices have been gathered to sing the final movement of the symphony, set to, and universally known as Schiller's Ode to Joy -- the anthem of the European Community.

Members of the Watford Philharmonic Society choir, which Mr. Garton conducted before his arrival in Bermuda, will be joining the local singers.

In addition, advanced students from the Royal Academy of Music will travel to Bermuda to take on the four solo roles.

The soloists include Rachel Mills (soprano) who won the Senior Operatic Prize last year. She has already toured throughout Britain as a recital and opera singer, and since graduating has been studying the Academy's Opera Course.

Another member of this prestigious group is Deborah Davison (contralto), who has been a recipient of the Sir Geraint Evans Prize at Cardiff University, earned a scholarship to attend the Academy where she subsequently won the Blyth-Buesst Opera Prize. She has appeared as a soloist in several European countries, winning special praise for her oratorio work.

The tenor solo will be sung by James Barrett, winner of the National Operatic and Dramatic Association Scholarship, who is currently attending the Opera Course. He made a Queen Elizabeth Hall debut in 1991 and, in the same year, gave a Mozart recital at the Barbican Centre in the City of London.

Nicholas Gedge (bass-baritone), a former choral scholar at St. John's College, Cambridge, who earned a law degree before returning to the world of music, won a post-graduate scholarship to the Royal Academy. He has been awarded the Sir Anthony Lewis Prize and the Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians.

Besides concerts at the Royal Festival Hall, the Ulster Hall and Notre Dame in Paris, he has broadcast on the radio and will shortly record the Faure Requiem.

The appearance of these soloists has been sponsored by XL Insurance Company Ltd.

The orchestra which, as usual, will include musicians from the Menuhin Foundation and will be led by Susan Dunkerley, is to be augmented by visiting players from the United States.

The performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony will be preceded by a performance of another large-scale work, the Te Deum of Austrian composer Anton Bruckner.

The concert takes place on Sunday, April 25 and Monday, April 26 at 8 p.m.

Tickets at $18 ($10 for children and senior citizens) are available at the Harbourmaster in Washington Mall, Meyer Travel on Church Street or Society members.

BURSTING INTO SONG -- The Shenandoans, a high school choral group from Virginia, perform in Bermuda this week.