SKIPTON Camerata musical director Ben Crick is on tour - but not with the Skipton Building Society sponsored orchestra he founded.

Ben, who lives in Cononley, has been hired as conductor for Doncaster diva Lesley Garrett's 2017 "The Magic of the Opera" national tour.

He has already been in charge of the baton at the opening gig at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester on July 13 and will be leading the musicians until the end of September.

Ben is conducting the English National Philharmonic and together they will be performing some of the most famous music in all opera including "O Mio Babbino Caro", "Nessun Dorma" and Verdi’s "Brindisi".

The tour covers the length of the country from Brighton to Newcastle with Harrogate on Saturday September 16 being the venue nearest to Craven.

It marks another step forward for Ben who started his conducting career in Skipton back in 2004, when he created Skipton Building Society Camerata, and who now has tours lined up in China, France, Germany and Lithuania for 2018 as well as a busy UK diary.

He said: "On one level it’s really exciting touring to far flung places and conducting soloists who I grew up buying their recordings and going to their concerts but what I love most is that I can make a living from performing high quality music.

"That’s what I’ve always wanted to do and on a daily basis I realize how lucky I am to be able to do that. Having said that you learn a lot from working with this calibre of soloist, talking to Lesley you realize how complete her knowledge of opera is, not just the most popular works but also more obscure ones."