MfE office launches with a musical celebration

MfE members and supporters enjoyed drinks, nibbles and entertainment at the grand opening of our new HQ and charity bookshop (Bookwise) on Friday 14 and Saturday 15 September.

Attendees and passers-by were entertained on Hockley High Street by members of our performance groups and office staff! The East of England Singers performed a variety of pieces, Chris McDouall (Bandwise co-ordinator and conductor) played some delightful recorder music and Su (General Manager) and Isobel Bounford (leader of our concert orchestra) formed a duet to perform string music with Artistic Director, Angela Kay on piano. Morven our new Assistant Artistic Director also joined the line-up and sang musical theatre and pop numbers. Members of the public really seemed to enjoy the music with a number of people commenting on how the groups had brought the street alive and asking when were we going to do it again!

Everyone was really impressed with the excellent office accommodation which MfE now enjoys. The whole refurbishment of the building has been master-minded and project managed by MfE chairman, Andrew James.

The MfE office staff love the new HQ "We are really happy to have a wonderful office in vibrant Hockley, Nottingham's cultural quarter. It is great that people can pop in anytime to enrol for an event and purchase tickets for concerts, it's really nice to meet more of the people that are involved in our many events. If you are ever in town please do pop in and have a look!"

Visitors were surprised about the size of the building too. Bookwise, the MfE second hand bookshop extends over two floors and has stocks of hundreds of books on lots of different subjects and a great range of sheet music. All proceeds from the shop go to provide funds for the continued outreach work of MfE. "It is a great shop and well worth a visit. A really good range of books on just about any subject."

What a wonderful way to launch our 30th Anniversary season - a big thank you to everyone that came along!

Bookwise are having a Sale of Children's Books - special half-term offers - most books only 50p or £1 this week and next week only!

See the photo's of the day by clicking here>>>>

String players of all ages perform in harmony

Last Sunday the East Midlands String Orchestra performed with our Youth String Orchestra in St Peter's Church, Ruddington. Richard Howarth was at the helm as conductor and the guest leader was Jonathan Martindale.

The concert opened with the rhythmic drive of Stravinsky's Concerto in D, keeping the players and audience on the edge of their seats! Following this, the Youth Strings played a lively movement from Divertimento by Peter Martin and later joined with the adults to perform the Montagues and Capulets theme from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet.

Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis was the highlight for many, with over 50 string players, youth and adult combining to produce a rich tapestry of sound. One audience member commented "The orchestra(s) performed splendidly. The Fantasia was wonderful, filling the church with radiant sound. And what a wonderful age mixture!"

A retiring collection for the Motor Neurone Disease Association raised over £400. For more information about the charity visit their website: http://www.mndassociation.org/

Our Composer has been announced!

Music for Everyone recently applied to be part of the Adopt a Composer scheme run by Making Music, the national body which represents music organisations - it seemed an ideal opportunity to commission a piece especially for our 30th birthday celebrations at no cost to Music for Everyone. Out of 130 applications only 6 were successful and we were really pleased to be one of them!

On Saturday 6 October, Angela went down to London for the big launch event of the Adopt a Composer scheme. The excitement mounted as each of the six groups were paired with a young composer..... who would our composer be?

We are pleased to announce that her name is Rebecca Dale!

As you can see from her website http://www.rebeccadale.com/ Rebecca studied at New College, Oxford University and went to Bristol University to further her composition studies specialising in music for film and television. She is now an associate composer with the London Symphony Orchestra as part of its Soundhub scheme and is working for the BBC as assistant to the composer for the period drama The Paradise which is currently being shown on BBC 1 on Tuesday evenings.

She is so excited about writing a piece for large choir and full orchestra and is really looking forward to meeting the Nottingham Festival Chorus and Nottingham Concert Orchestra - we will keep you updated on new developments!