COMPOSER and conductor Richard Chew will be taking up the baton later this year at Malvern Theatres.

An orchestra of young musicians from Malvern's schools will be performing Richard's work Rites of Passage for a charity fundraising concert.

Students from The Chase, Dyson Perrins CE High School, St James's, Hanley Castle High School, Malvern College and Malvern Girls' College will take part in the concert, which will raise money for the Acorns Children's Hospice.

Richard, who lives in West Malvern, will be rehearsing with the schools and conducting the final performance, which will also feature professional singers.

He has worked internationally as an opera singer and composer. Born in Birmingham, he studied at the city's university and then at the Royal College of Music, where he won all the major prizes for singing and was awarded the President's Rose Bowl by the Queen Mother.

His involvement with local schools came about through Lyn Lindner, head of music at St James's School and a friend of Richard's.

"We discussed the possibility of me being involved about a year ago. They were looking for a piece that would be a challenge and would also be very accessible," Richard said.

Rites of Passage brings together texts from many sources, from Pliny to Walt Whitman, each about an aspect of the maritime world.

"It's all about prayers at sea, the prayers of people who are left behind and the idea of sea communities. We are an island nation, it's something I've always wanted to write about. The sea is part of my psyche," said Richard.

"I think it's a very exciting sounding piece there's a lot on energy in it."

Richard hopes this collaboration with the schools could lead to a permanent choral project. He hopes to establish a youth choir in the next year or so, focusing on world music.

"Malvern has an awful lot of music but at the moment there's nothing going on in that particular area," he said.

A previous choir that Richard set up in London, The Shout, features members from different musical backgrounds and has become very successful.

His other plans for 2004 include a new children's opera for the Welsh National Opera and a film of another children's opera Wise Eye. Rites of Passage will also be performed at the Maritime Museum in Greenwich and at Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

The schools' concert is at 7.30pm on Sunday, March 7.