The first day back from the Christmas holiday was an INSET day for Archway Learning Trust staff and yet talented students from the Nottingham Emmanuel School, Bluecoat Aspley and Wollaton Academies chose to spend the last day of their holiday with the National Youth Orchestra at the Royal Concert Hall to play the famous 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky.
Our students took part in a masterclass with some of the greatest musicians from Great Britain’s National Youth Orchestra and produced a powerful, moving and loud (!) performance of the well-known movement from the Russian composer’s piece celebrating the Russian defeat of Napoleon in 1812.
Students who play an orchestral instrument at grade 4 or above were invited to attend as part of a new partnership between the National Youth Orchestra and The Nottingham Emmanuel School. This is one of many opportunities our partnership will bring for students who do or don’t play a musician instrument. The NYO will support us to make music performance an everyday experience for our students.
So we started the new term as we mean to go on! On Monday 6th January 2020 students took their places alongside other members of the Orchestra on stage for the masterclass and pre-concert performance. They were then able to stay and meet members of the Orchestra and be part of the audience in the concert later that evening. Entitled Rise Up! The concert celebrated the power of young people to create change. The musicians all share a vision to share music and their performance is mass action presenting music which defined an era of protests and revolution, including Shostakovich’s Symphony No 11 and Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem.
“It was an exhilarating and powerful experience and our students performed brilliantly with the Orchestra. Thank you to the music teachers, instrumental tutors, Nottingham Music Education Hub and The National Youth Orchestra for making this an unforgettable start to the New Year.”
Martha Toogood, Archway Learning Trust’s Arts Enrichment and Enhancement Coordinator
