Starring Brian Blessed and Rory Bremner, 1001 Arabian Nights is the first tale from The Opus Pocus: a series of symphonies transformed into funny, action-packed, musical audiobooks and accompanying comic books, helping children to discover the magic of classical music, starting with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's dazzling composition, Scheherazade.

Here is the first chapter of the first story from The Opus Pocus: 1001 Arabian Nights or The Princess, the Pirate and the Baboon! It's a hairy tale of a princess, a sultan, a genie, and a shipwreck, and an unlucky pirate who keeps getting turned into a baboon! Also included is the orchestral music, providing children with an introduction to the first movement of Rimsky-Korsakov's magical symphonic work.

1001 Arabian Nights stars Brian Blessed as the Great Sultan Shakriar, Rory Bremner as Sinbad the Hairy Pirate, with Jess Murphy as Princess Sheherazade and Sam Morris as the narrator, Grandma Dingley. Other pirates, wizards, and various characters were performed by Nigel Garton, backed by an orchestra conducted by Greg Arrowsmith with a violin solo by Sarah Sexton, mastered by Andrew Smillie. It was written and directed by Matt Parry, with cover illustration by Faye Simms and design by Mandy Norman.

Funded by a Kickstarter campaign and winning the national Intuit StartUp Britain competition, The Opus Pocus needs your help to bring classical music to thousands - millions - of children worldwide! Visit our website to find out more....