Football fans to sing opera at city music venue

The choir will be performing at the new Bradford Live venue

Bradford City fans will be the opening act at a Yorkshire Day concert in the city's long-awaited new music venue.

The Bantam of the Opera, a group of supporters selected by the BBC, will perform as a choir alongside the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra at Bradford Live on 1 August.

The fans have been taught to sing opera to mark the city's stint as UK City of Culture as part of a BBC Radio Leeds challenge.

The project has been backed by Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, opera singer Lesley Garrett and former City boss and sports presenter Chris Kamara.

Bradford Live has cost £50m to build, double the original estimate

Members of the choir range from a 90-year-old match-day volunteer at the club to an 18-year-old A-Level student.

Events at the 3,800-capacity venue were initially scheduled for November 2024, but the shows were cancelled and customers were refunded.

Bradford Live was taken over by Trafalgar Entertainment in February after NEC Group pulled out of running the venue.

Initially forecast to cost between £22m and £25m, the venue has been funded by almost £44m from Bradford Council, with the rest coming from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), the government and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

NEC Group had been announced as the operator as long ago as 2017, but pulled out following a "strategic review of its business", according to a spokesperson.

'Unbelievable'

Kamara, who had a 20-year playing career and managed Bradford City between 1995 and 1998, will be leading the choir during their performance.

"It was unbelievable how good they're sounding already," he said after hearing the choir rehearse.

"It's great to see the fans unite in such a community driven way."

The choir will also perform at Bradford City's stadium to help mark 40 years since the Valley Parade fire, which claimed the lives of 56 supporters.

The singers will be on the pitch at half time during the memorial match, at the final home game of the season.

You can follow the journey of the singers, in the BBC Bantam of the Opera podcast on BBC Sounds here.

Tickets are on sale for the Yorkshire Calling event.

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.