THE internationally acclaimed Philadelphia Boys Choir will be performing at the Village Green: Next Generation festival.

The choir which has sung with Pavarotti and for Barack Obama, will be performing in Chalkwell Park as the finale to Metal’s celebration of youth and cultural enterprise, Village Green.

The open-air concert takes place on Friday, July 11 from 5pm until 8pm and is open to members of the public.

The Philadelphia Boys Choir & Chorale is one of the most renowned youth choirs in the world. Established in the 1960s, they have won Emmys and been nominated for Grammy awards.

The choir first formed links with Southend in 2012, when they included members of the Southend Boys’ and Girls’ Choirs on their US concert tour. They will be hosted in Southend by the Southend choirs’ families, and the choirs will also be performing together on Thursday, July 10, 8pm at Westcliff High School for Boys.

Village Green: Next Generation will see around 4,000 school pupils from Southend performing on stage, watching peers perform, and taking part in a wide range of hands on workshops such as film making, drawing, journalism.

The day long-event which is organised by Metal, utilises the infrastructure that is being prepared for the main Village Green festival the following day. It is provided free of charge to all Southend schools. The Boys Choir will join us at the end of this day for a public event which is open to anyone.

Village Green: Next Generation is funded by Southend Music Education Hub. All proceeds generated by ticket sales will go back into the Hub’s funds to develop more music projects with young people in the area.

Colette Bailey, Metal’s artistic director, said: ‘It’s an honour to host such a world class act. The Philadelphia boys Choir have sung all over the world from Paris, China, Finland to Russia, Australian, Argentina and are famous in all corners of the globe. Now they are coming to Chalkwell Park.

“We are encouraging people to bring blankets, picnics and deckchairs to enjoy what will be the perfect end to our schools’ festival day that celebrates the performing arts talent of Southend’s young people.’ Tickets cost £5 for adults and are free for under 18s.

Tickets are available online 24hours through www.metalculture.com or by telephone from the Skiddle Ticket Sales hotline on 0844 844 2920.