East Midlands Youth String Orchestra feature in National Festival

The East Midlands Youth String Orchestra presented a class act at Birmingham's Symphony Hall on Wednesday 4th July when they performed at the National Festival of Music for Youth, a six-day showcase for inspirational young musicians from across the UK.

Members of the 30-strong EMYSO come from all over Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire, including Wollaton, Southwell and East Leake. They won through to the Birmingham festival from a regional competition at Loughborough in May. MfE violin tutor Isobel Bounford said "We were very excited to be invited to perform at Symphony Hall! We were one of just six groups from as far afield as Penzance, Gwent and London to be chosen, so we felt privileged to be part of such a wonderful National Festival”.
 
Asked what it was like to play at one of the world’s top concert venues, Andrew Sherwin, one of EMYSO's youngest members said "It was a fantastic place. I was quite nervous when we arrived but it was brilliant and I had a great time!"

The judges praised the orchestra's playing as stylish, committed and lyrical. EMYSO conductor Richard Howarth said "I was really impressed with the way the group performed and was proud to be conducting them at Symphony Hall. It’s a huge space but they did not seem fazed by that, and played with great enthusiasm and confidence."

Nottingham-based principal viola, Jamie van der Sanden, remarked "Playing in Symphony Hall was exhilarating, especially since I had a solo passage! The acoustic was brilliant and I could really hear my viola projecting its sound". Thanks to Music for Everyone’s special Instrument Fund, Jamie has had the use of a fine viola whilst in the orchestra. He said "EMYSO has shown me just how exciting it is to join with other musicians and work together towards a top performance. The teaching has been fantastic and helped me to develop real style in my playing”.

A small number of participants in the National Festival will be invited to perform at the Schools' Prom at the Royal Albert Hall in London later in the year. Jamie said "If we were asked to take part it would be the icing on the cake… the Birmingham day was really inspirational and will be something we'll never forget".

If your son or daughter is a string player grade 5 standard or above and would be interested in joining the group you can find out more information on the Music for Everyone websitewww.music-for-everyone.org email admin@music-for-everyone.org or telephone 0115 9596484.

300 children from 6 schools perform together in a youth music celebration

On Tuesday 28^th and Wednesday 29^th June over 300 children from six schools in the West Bridgford and Wilford area joined forces to sing in two concerts at the Nottingham Emmanuel School.

For the past two months singing animateurs from Music for Everyone have been leading two types of workshops, one especially designed for boys and one especially designed for girls, in six primary schools in the West Bridgford and Wilford area for children in school years 3 - 6.

On the 28^th and 29^th of June the Voices 2011 project culminated in two wonderful concerts where over 300 children from all of the schools came together at the Emmanuel School, West Bridgford to perform songs from well known musicals Annie and Oliver to their friends and families.

In school workshops were led by Helen Hayes, Jane McDouall and Elizabeth Lee who all have a wealth of experience encouraging young people to sing in a variety of contexts, including our ever popular Vocals courses. Helen Hayes said “Music for Everyone is passionate about inspiring a life-long love of singing from the youngest age. The project was funded to get more young people singing, we split the boys from the girls because often boys are reluctant to sing and are embarrassed about it. We wanted the boys and girls to own the fact that they have fantastic voices and enjoy singing. We feel the project has been a great success and really hope that the young people involved will keep up with their music making.”

Nottingham Boys’ Voices and Nottingham Girls’ Voices, Music for Everyone’s very own youth choirs for ages 8 - 14, also performed pieces in the concert.

The Lord Mayor of Nottingham Councillor Michael Wildgust, the Lady Mayoress and Councillor John Cottee County Council Cabinet Member for Culture and Community in Nottinghamshire were all in attendance at the concerts and enjoyed the children’s performances enormously. Councillor John Cottee said “a very enjoyable concert and great to see all the young girls enjoying their singing.” 

Angela Kay, Artistic Director of Music for Everyone said “The children taking part made a wonderful sound; The concerts were a fantastic celebration of youth music-making.”

Nottingham Youth Voices singers chosen for the Cultural Olympiad!

We are pleased to announce that Ruth Hindmarsh, Emily Hodkinson and Charlotte Vivian of Nottingham have won places in the new national choir which will perform at the 2012 London Olympics and Cultural Olympiad.

Only seven singers between the ages of 16 and 21 from Nottinghamshire have been selected for Youth Music’s Voices Ensemble.  The girls are thrilled to have been chosen out of thousands of auditionees.  Choir member Ruth said “I am absolutely delighted, when I found out I had got into the choir I couldn’t believe it.”

Ruth, Emily and Charlotte were among several young singers put forward by Nottingham Youth Voices. Following the first round of auditions in January at the Royal Concert Hall, all three were invited to a second audition in March where they had to perform two solo songs in front of a panel of judges.

When asked what helped her cope with the challenge of the audition and just how she came through it with flying colours, Charlotte said, "Taking part in Music for Everyone’s workshops and being a part of their groups has helped prepare me for something like this throughout my life. I sung in their Vocals events for practically my whole childhood, and joined their girls’ choir, Nottingham Girls' Voices, when I was 10. Now I’m in their top youth choir, Nottingham Youth Voices. I’ve gained massive confidence with my singing from Music for Everyone, and some great performance opportunities." 

Conductor of Nottingham Youth Voices, Joe Shaw, expressed his delight with their success. “We are very proud of our singers. This will be a great opportunity for them and we are looking forward to seeing them perform, not only for the country, but also as representatives of Nottingham Youth Voices.”

As members of the special Youth Music Voices Ensemble, Ruth, Emily and Charlotte will perform an extensive repertoire of songs and arrangements specially commissioned for the lead into the 2012 Olympics. 

Rehearsals start in July and all three singers are really looking forward to meeting the other choir members and creating a fabulous new sound. Ruth says “I am really excited, the Cultural Olympiad is going to be brilliant. We’ll be performing all over London in the run-up to the Olympics themselves.”

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