The Big Give Christmas Challenge

A number of groups are taking part in this year's Big Give Christmas Challenge. From Thursday 5 December to Saturday 7 December, donations given via The Big Give website will be matched £1 for £1 with money from the Challenge Fund. The challenge opens at 10am each day and lasts until the funds run out; there is a total of £2m available in matching funding; if you leave it too late during the day to give and funds have run out then you have to wait until 10am next morning for further funds to be released.

• Co-Opera Co are hoping to raise funds for their new Youth Opera Company for 8 to 18 year olds - Co-Oper8. Further information from their Big Give page
• English Touring Opera are fundraising for their new children's opera Borka based on John Burningham's popular book Borka: The Aventures of a Goose with No Feathers. The new opera will be toured during 2014 and is a follow up to ETO's highly successful Laika the Spacedog. Further information from their Big Give page
• Gabrieli are looking to raise money for a new recording of Handel's L'Allegro, il Penseroso et il Moderato following on from their performances of the work at the Lufthansa Festival in London, at the Festival de Beaune in France and in Rotterdam. Soloists will be Gillian Webster, Jeremy Ovenden, Ashley Riches and treble Laurence Kilby. Further information from their Big Give page.