The first Kew Music Festival starts tomorrow and one of the picks of the festival programme will be a performance of Verdi’s La Traviata at St Anne’s Church on Wednesday at 6.30pm, writes Will Gore.

The performance is being staged by Garden Opera in conjunction with Kew’s Broomfield House School.

Sixty pupils, from Years Four, Five and Six, will be taking part in the production as chorus members having been put through their paces during rehearsals with their teachers and by the opera company in a workshop at the school last week.

Norton York, headmaster at Broomfield House, says: “For children to experience the powerful sound of an opera singer up close is extremely rare.

“This experience is definitely affecting the way that they sing – we will be performing Oliver! later in the year, so we will have to teach them how to sing like Cockneys as well!”

The performance of La Traviata is currently sold out – phone Broomfield House School on 020 8940 3884 for further ticket information.

Another highlight of the festival will be Where Are the Songs We Sung?, an evening of musical nostalgia presented by Paul Guinery and Michael Paine. The event at St Anne’s Church, Kew Green, starts at 8pm tomorrow night and will include the songs of Noel Coward, Ivor Novello, Kurt Weill, and many more.

Tickets for this event cost £12 (or £10 in advance), including a glass of champagne, and all proceeds go to the Friends of St Anne’s Church and can be booked by calling 020 8942 2801 or by emailing anne.barker @talktalk. net.

The festival will also see performances from violinist Nicola Bendetti (June 20), Kew Sinfonia (June 26) and the Kew Wind Orchestra (June 27).

Visit kewmusicfestival. com