AN orchestra has made a plea: help us stage a masterpiece.

Orchestral musicians are wanted to join forces with the Slaithwaite Philharmonic Orchestra to present the symphonic poem Ein Heldenleben by Richard Strauss.

The SPO's concert in January features one of the orchestral repertoire's most impressive creations.

Ein Heldenleben - A Hero's Life - demands enormous instrumental forces - including eight French horns, four of each woodwind instrument, two harps, percussion and an army of strings.

To bring this off the SPO needs to expand its normal orchestra and is inviting interested orchestral players, particularly strings, to join them for the concert.

A special orchestral workshop day has been arranged which will be run by three professional orchestral players, providing all who attend with specialist coaching.

Two of them are from the Orchestra of Opera North: SPO music director Chris Houlding (brass) and David Baker (woodwind). The strings will be led by Manchester-based freelance professional Nia Bevan.

The orchestral coaching day is on Sunday, January 16, from 10.30am to 5pm at Colne Valley High School, and the concert is the following weekend on Saturday, January 22, in the Town Hall.

The workshop is free. All the Phil asks is that all those attending also play in the concert. Other rehearsals are on Mondays at Slaithwaite Civic Hall.

Ein Heldenleben is both a challenge and a huge reward, the orchestra says in its invitation to players.

Some sections have already been filled, and in other places are limited.

But there is plenty of room for string players.

To volunteer, or for more details, contact SPO secretary Chris Woodhead on 01484 648866.

* Richard Strauss composed Ein HeldenLeben in 1898.

* It was first performed in Frankfurt the following year.

* The title is German for A Hero's Life.

* It is a symphonic poem based on Strauss's own life - clearly he had a high opinion of himself!

* In one section of the piece, The Hero's Works of Peace, Strauss recapitulates on some of his own earlier compositions.

* Strauss is perhaps best known for his opera Der Rosenkavalier (1911) and his orchestral tone poems Don Juan (1888) and Also Sprach Zarathustra (1896).