A choir from Aylesbury will share the stage with world famous tenor Russell Watson when he performs at the Waterside Theatre later this month.
Watson, who has performed in front of the Queen, Bill Clinton and the Emperor of Japan, has chosen Aylesbury Choral Society to sing alongside him – much to the surprise and delight of the group’s leader, Gus Orchard.
“Possibly word came through from the theatre or possibly we were found from the website,” he said.
“His management company contacted us back in the middle of December and asked if we could provide a choir of 50 to 80 people. So we asked our members and they said yes!”
The choir is rehearsing six items in total, including Nessun Dorma, Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Nabucco and the Toreador Song from Carmen,to be performed during the second half of the show on Tuesday March 24.
Mr Orchard said: “I think the members are all very excited, it’s a different sort of concert to what we are used to, it’s operatic as well as modern songs and we usually sing choral works in a choral tradition.
“But we are delighted, excited and honoured to have been asked to perform with Russell Watson. We are working hard on our contribution to his concert to ensure a great result for the audience.”
The choir was founded in 1932 by Charles Pope. One members, Roy Spinks, has been with the choir over 50 years. The choir regularly performs at St Mary’s Church.
The next concert, following Waterside, is Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem at St Mary’s on Saturday May 2 .