CHILDREN from a Basingstoke junior school were given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sing on stage at the Royal Albert Hall.

The youngsters from St Mary’s Junior School, in Old Basing, joined 400 other Hampshire schoolchildren, including a group from St Mary Bourne Primary School, to perform in BBC Music’s Ten Pieces concert, for which they sang a specially arranged version of Handel’s Zadok the Priest.

As one of the BBC’s 240 Ten Pieces Champions, Hampshire County Council’s Music Service has been working with 13 junior and primary schools on the piece of work since the autumn, which culminated in Saturday’s show.

BBC Ten Pieces is a new, national initiative involving 21,000 schools, led by BBC Learning and BBC performing groups.

The aim is to introduce a generation of children to a range of classical music, inspiring them to use the music as a stimulus for their own creativity.

Children were able to respond to a choice of one of ten pieces of classical music and develop their own interpretation of the selected piece through music composition, dance, digital art and other art forms, as well as taking part in performances of the pieces.

The piece chosen for the Royal Albert Hall was written by George Frideric Handel for the coronation of George II in 1727, and has been played at every coronation since then.

BBC Ten Pieces has also had the involvement of the five BBC Orchestras and the BBC Singers as well as celebrities including Barney Harwood from Blue Peter and television presenters Dick and Dom.

Caroline Welch, headteacher at St Mary’s Junior School, said: “This was an amazing opportunity for our children to sing such a wonderful piece, alongside so many other children.”