A MUSICAL event of epic proportions will come to Skipton Town Hall next Friday, July 3.

Almost 100 performers, both amateur and professional, will take to the stage to perform Beethoven’s Symphony No 9, known as the Choral Symphony.

Following last year’s successful performance of Beethoven’s Fifth, the town hall’s resident professional orchestra, Skipton Building Society Camerata, will be joined by Skipton Choral Society and an impressive line-up of soloists to raise the roof with what many believe to be the greatest symphony ever written.

The concert is supported by Skipton Town Partnership and comes in the same weekend that Skipton celebrates Sheep Day.

Ben Crick, musical director of the two groups, said: "We were asked to play something celebratory and what better than the Ode to Joy? The reference is to a poem by the German poet Schiller which Beethoven uses in the symphony.

"Beethoven’s Ninth was his last symphony and was conceived on a huge scale. It’s a real celebration of the human spirit."

Staging such a big event is, of course, expensive and is only possible thanks to the financial support of Skipton Town Partnership and the orchestra’s principal sponsor, Skipton Building Society.

Orchestra manager Jeremy Gwynn said: "Without funding tickets would be much too expensive. We’re constantly looking for ways of making them cheaper so that more people can hear professional musicians playing great music."

The concert starts at 7.30pm and also includes Mozart’s Symphony No 40.

For tickets, call 0333 666 3366, or go to skiptoncamerata.com where you can find out about the Tarn Moor Estate grant ticket scheme, which allows the Camerata to offer anyone under the age of 30 and living in Skipton a ticket for just £7.