Students from Great Baddow High School will be performing The Angry Planet at this year’s Proms. The students, who are aged between 11 and 18 years and include both death and hearing children.This i the first time that a signing choir has appeared at the Proms.

They will be performing alongside Dr Paul Whittaker OBE, Artistic Director of the charity Music and the Deaf, performing The Angry Planet, which was written by composer Bob Chilcott and poet Charles Bennett.

The Great Baddow High School Signing Choir was founded in 2008 by two of the school’s Communication Support Workers, Marina Farmer and Sam Wheeler. They wanted to set up the choir to help deaf children integrate better with hearing children in social activities. It is also a way for students to learn new skills and have some fun.

Bob Chilcott said “I first met Paul over 20 years ago when I was in The King’s Singers, and the group took part in a concert to raise money for Music and the Deaf. It’s great to be able to share The Angry Planet in this way.”

The Angry Planet was developed by a youth singing programme and was commissioned by The Bach Choir as part of a collaboration with music education charity The Voices Foundation.

A video about the Angry Planet

David Hill and Charles Bennett discuss the concept of The Angry Planet. This is a documentary about a singing choir, not the Baddow signing one.

More information on the BBC Proms page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/archive/search/2010s/2012/august-05/14248