Go to a Choros concert and you can be certain of one thing: it will not be dull or routine. Ever since conductor Janet Lincé founded the choir in 1996, it has ranged across a wide repertoire, not all of it by well-known composers.

Choros’s latest outing was subtitled Spirit of New Zealand, and made good use of Exeter College Chapel’s ethereal acoustic. Lincé has a strong attachment to New Zealand, and has toured it several times. So it was with direct experience that she described the “amazing sunsets” to be seen on New Zealand’s third island, Rakiura, and evoked in David Hamilton’s piece of the same name. The music paints an abstract picture behind a descriptive text, and makes telling use of dynamics. The same is true of the other Hamilton work sung, Lux aeterna. New Zealand was also represented by David Griffiths’s Beata Virgo, an impressionistic piece built up by overlapping voice parts — excellent for a choir like Choros, which is equally strong right across the vocal range.

Back in the British Isles, Choros brought a sense of awe to James MacMillan’s A New Song, and exposed the sometimes spine-tingling harmonies of the same composer’s Bring us, O Lord God. Meanwhile, Cecilia McDowall’s Cantate Astra was as succinct as they come, while Jonathan Dove was represented by Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Ecce beatam lucem. Both pieces received sparky performances, complemented by well-judged organ accompaniment from James Brown — who also brought out both the brassy and the meditative sides of the Exeter organ to splendid effect in three movements from Paul Spicer’s solo organ work, Kiwi Fireworks.

Under Lincé’s firm control, Choros sang with zest and commitment, bringing both words and underlying harmonies to the fore as required. A powerful evening’s music making was brought to a joyful end with a selection of traditional Maori songs.