THE world's leading counter-tenor James Bowman has offered to sing at a concert at Pershore Abbey on Saturday, May 28, in aid of Macmillan Cancer Relief.

Bowman was recently voted the experts' expert counter-tenor by his colleagues. He is celebrated for his breadth of repertoire and the Pershore concert will afford an opportunity to hear him perform a wide range of music including Vivaldi's Gloria, Vaughan Williams's The Truth from Above and Linden Lea.

He will be joined by The Abbey School Choir from Tewkesbury, with whom he has collaborated on several memorable occasions over the last few years, notably at The Abbey School's 30th anniversary concert in November 2003 and Messiah last December.

The choir is building a reputation as one of Britain's leading cathedral choirs and apart from the daily service at Tewkesbury Abbey has a busy schedule of recordings and concerts both in the UK and the USA.

The Pershore programme (7.30pm) also includes a number of orchestral items including Elgar's Serenade for Strings and Marcello's Oboe Concerto in D minor with Imogen Turner as the oboe soloist. The Bristol-based Emerald Orchestra is led by Roger Huckle with conductor Benjamin Nicholas.

The programme concludes with Handel's rousing coronation anthem Zadok the Priest.

Tickets are available at £15, £12 and £10 from Blue, 19 Broad Street, Pershore, Hampton Farm Shop, Pershore Road, Evesham, or by telephone 01386 861139.