From teacher to star with £1.25m opera deal

A SINGING teacher from Blythe Bridge has landed a £1.25 million record deal.

Elinor Moran, aged 28, pictured, is currently living a whirlwind life filled with recording sessions and glamorous photo shoots.

She is one of five singing teachers plucked from obscurity to bring Victorian opera to the masses.

The group, collectively known as The Gala Ensemble, will front a promotion of the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, after SonyBMG launched a hunt for singing tutors.

They signed the £1.25m deal in July and have been secretively recording an album every since. They were unveiled in London yesterday ahead of the album launch at the end of November.

Elinor said: "The deal was totally unexpected. I just thought this is not the sort of thing which happens to people like me.

"Music has always been a very big part of my life.

"Although I live in London now, I was born in Blythe Bridge and I lived there until I was 18. My family are still there and I'd love to come back to Stoke to perform some day."

Elinor, who went to Blythe Bridge High School, is a soprano in the group and the other members are, baritone Jonathan Prentice, from Bournemouth, mezzo soprano Hannah Pedley from Leeds, Lichfield tenor Richard Knight and soprano Sally Johnson, from Liverpool.

They were assembled to record a new album of the Victorian opera composers' work.

The Gala Ensemble's album, The Best of Gilbert and Sullivan, featuring songs from the Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore and The Mikado, is due for release on November 24.