Bucks pupils to take to the stage at the Royal Albert Hall for children's opera

Karen Gillingham, director of Dare to Dream during rehearsals

Schoolchildren from across Aylesbury Vale are taking to the stage to perform 'Dare to Dream' at the Royal Albert Hall on Monday March 18.

A choir of 650 primary school children from Bucks will be joined by a stage company of 90 primary school children from three Bucks schools, soloists Claire Wild (soprano) and Kieran Rayner (baritone) and a 25-piece orchestra from Bucks Music Trust for the performance in London.

Pupils from the following schools within Aylesbury Vale will be part of the final performance:

> Aston Clinton Primary School

> Bierton Combined School

> George Grenville Academy, Buckingham

> Oak Green School

> Oakley C of E Combined School

> Princes Risborough Primary School

> St Michael’s C of E Combined School, Stewkley

> Wendover C of E Junior School

The faces and voices of young poets from Syria, Uganda and Bangladesh will be included within the work.

The themes for 'Dare to Dream' were initiated and explored in workshops conducted by Skype, which saw local children connect with youngsters overseas.

Their ideas were worked into a text suitable for an opera by Lucinda Jarrett and Chris Rawlence from Rosetta Life.

Composer Hannah Conway took the libretto and ideas from the workshops to create the score for the opera, working with film-maker Claudia Lee and designer Rhiannon Newman-Brown.

Karen Gillingham from Garsington Opera is directing the work which premieres at the Royal Albert Hall at 7pm on March 18 as part of Echoes 8, a biennial singing event.

The first half of Echoes will feature music performed by a further 850 primary school pupils from across Bucks.