Lauren Strain at Musolife.com blogs about Manchester Camerata's Songbook of the Earth event at The Bridgewater Hall.

"It's a little after the fact, but we wanted to flag up a rather special event that occurred at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall on 27 January.

More than 2000 school children from Manchester and its attendant regions were present that morning for a special concert from the Manchester Camerata. The orchestra mesmerised the packed-out hall with a performance of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, complete with explanations and jokes for the little ones.

This writer was pleased to hear of such an event; such large-scale concerts expressly for an audience comprised of Key Stage 2 students are, sadly, quite rare, probably for reasons of logistics (getting all those kids out of school and into the city centre can't be simple!) and timetabling (day trips involve lots of co-ordination between teachers and extra parental help, not to mention money).

But, when the effort is made, the overwhelmingly positive results can be clearly seen on the kids' faces; for many of these children, the concert will have been their first ever experience of an orchestra in action."

Read the whole blog by clicking here

Planet Musician Blog highlights Manchester Camerata's hand in helping kids send a message to the skies

"I had a hard time getting up this morning - maybe I could get some help from English schoolkids. As part of Manchester Metropolitan University"s celebration of National Science and Engineering Week, students from three Manchester-area schools, St. Paul"s (Walkden), St. Barnabas (Clayton), and Wyche Primary (Nantwich), composed wake-up music for the residents of the International Space Station, with some help from the members of the Manchester Camerata: "The musicians... worked with the children composing new music for the wake-up calls based on astrophysical data, such as the radio waves emitted by celestial bodies, and visual images of space." (They also had an Internet improv session with astrophysicist/rock musician Fiorella Terenzi.)

The three entries were judged by Russian rocket scientist Alexander Martynov and legendary cosmonaut Alexander Volkov, with the Camerata recording the winner for future early-morning duty (though this news report was coy as to who that winner actually was.) In the words of MMU Science Week organizer Conway Mothbi, "The call will be heard 250 miles above the earth by Expedition 14 cosmonauts under conditions of weightlessness. This is a great honour as it is a UK first."

Read the blog - Click here

The Nantwich News Blog reports Manchester Camerata musicians helping a local primary school win a

Space Station music contest

"Children at a Nantwich primary school have helped to compose wake-up music for International Space Station residents!

The youngsters from Wyche Primary beat two other North West schools to win a competition run as part of Manchester Metropolitan University"s celebration of National Science and Engineering Week.

Pupils from Wyche, St. Paul's in Walkden, and St. Barnabas in Clayton were given a helping hand by members of the Manchester Camerata.

Musicians worked with children composing new music for the wake-up calls based on astrophysical data - such as radio waves emitted by celestial bodies and visual images of space.

The three entries were judged by a Russian rocket scientist and cosmonaut, with the Camerata recording the winner for future early-morning duty.

MMU Science Week organiser Conway Mothbi said: "The call will be heard 250 miles above the earth by Expedition 14 cosmonauts under conditions of weightlessness. This is a great honour as it is a UK first."

Visit the Nantwich News Blog

The Brass Herald highlights Manchester Camerata's involvement a new scheme to train musicians.

"Three chamber orchestras in the North West - Manchester Camerata, Lancashire Sinfonietta, and Northern Chamber Orchestra - have teamed up with Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) to deliver a tailored training programme for orchestral musicians who are involved in the delivery of education work.

The course, believed to be the first of its kind, is supported in this pilot year by the North West Universities Association (NWUA) as a Higher Level Skills Partnership. Its first fifteen students, drawn from all three orchestras and the North West's freelance pool of orchestral musicians, began their studies with tutor Barry Russell on 1 February at MMU's Didsbury campus. Some elements of the course, focusing on the use of technology/different media, will be delivered at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM).

The need for the course grew from the huge growth in the education and community work undertaken by the UK's professional orchestras that has taken place over the past twenty years. Orchestras are reaching more children each year, performing concerts to 300,000 school children in 2008/09. . Much of this work takes place 'off the platform' and beyond the concert hall and incorporates both informal and formal learning. This new course is a long term commitment to increasing and developing this valuable work. Charlotte Spencer, Head of Learning and Participation at Manchester Camerata, where the idea for the course first originated, explained further:

"Here at Manchester Camerata Learning and Participation is now central to our work and runs hand in hand with our concert season. It's the same for the other orchestras: education work is right at the top of the agenda. Some of our musicians who want to participate in work of this kind, particularly those who trained before outreach experience was part of the conservatoire curriculum, felt they would benefit from extra training for their work in the education sector.

"The beauty of this course is that players have been asked for their input into its design. It aims to deliver what they really want and need. And of course the extra skills and understanding that the musicians gain as a result of completing this course will improve still further the quality of the workshops they deliver."

The North West Chamber Orchestras Training Programme will be very much a hands-on experience, with a balance of creative and theory-based modules, ranging from general skills required for working in the formal education sector to specially-tailored modules with experienced guest lecturers from the UK music education scene. It includes placements in a range of educational settings, including the educational workshops being run by the various orchestral partners.

The course's part-time structure means it can be fitted in to the musicians' busy schedules. It is hoped that after a successful pilot year the course will lead to a Post Graduate Certificate in Professional Studies and be subsumed into MMU's ongoing Post Graduate offer. MMU already has a track record for practical courses for musicians, having pioneered the very successful PGCE in Specialist Instrumental Teaching jointly with the RNCM.

Dr Jonathan Savage, at MMU's Institute of Education said: "The University is delighted with to be associated with these three marvellous orchestras. Education is a very important branch of work for the modern orchestra and we look forward to seeing musicians ‘graduating' and really benefiting from their learning."

From The Brass Herald

CHESTER FAMILY CREATIVITY DAY

Saturday 20 February 2010

10:15am till 3.00pm

University of Chester, Kingsway Campus

To book telephone the Chester Festivals ticket line on 08452417868

or in person by going to Chester Tourist Information Centre.

ULVERSTON FAMILY CREATIVITY DAY

Sunday 21 February 2010

10.15 am till 3.00pm

Coronation Hall, Ulverston

To book telephone the box office on 01229 587140

Or in person to the Coronation Hall, County Square, Ulverston.

Manchester Camerata invites you to take part in our latest Family Creativity Days in Chester and Ulverston.

The days are made up of three workshops, leading to a special performance in the afternoon. Everyone gets experience of each of the sessions during the day.

The first workshop is a percussion workshop when everyone can have a go on our principal percussionist’s huge range of percussion, including sleigh bells, gongs, timpani, drums, wind chimes, exotic African and Asian instruments etc

The second workshop is craft based and children and parents make props, scenery, costumes and instruments for the final performance.

The third workshop is with a storyteller and is drama based - everyone gets involved with bringing the script to life and acting out the story.

The three groups come together at the end for a final performance on the stage.

Children must be accompanied by an adult, who will also have the opportunity to take an active role in the day’s activities!  There is a short break for lunch and you can invite non participating family members along to the final performance. The day is most suitable for children between the ages of 7 and 11 although this is very flexible. 

Tickets for both Chester and Ulverston are £5 for adults and £3 for children. Entry for the final performance at 2:30pm is free, but you’ll need to book a tickets through the box office and places are limited!.

"It was fantastic, a once in a life time experience and it sounded just like a CD".

Children from St Andrew’s CE Primary, Littleborough were invited to attend Manchester Camerata’s special performance of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony on 27 January at The Bridgewater Hall.

The special performance of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony by Manchester Camerata, one of the country’s leading chamber orchestras, included introductions by the Hall’s poet-in-residence, Terry Caffrey who, together with Camerata musicians, took the children on a musical journey.

One of the aims of the concert was to familiarise the children with the experience of an event in The Bridgewater Hall. Many of them will be performing there themselves at a gala concert on 19 April as part of the Songbook of the Earth Learning and Participation project, which Manchester Camerata is currently running with The Bridgewater Hall’s Community Education Trust.

Read more at Rochdale Online

To read more about the Songbook of the Earth project click here

2500 kids from the North West come together to be inspired by Manchester Camerata.

The Bridgewater Hall was packed to the rafters with kids from across the North West - all to hear Manchester Camerata play Beethoven's Symphony No. 6. Children from across Greater Manchester, Stafford and Cumbria, as well as the 14 primary schools that have been taking part in the Songbook of the Earth project, which is a collaboration between Manchester Camerata and the Bridgewater Hall Community Education Trust, experienced the concert.

The concert meant an early start for the orchestra - well before 9am - to give time for a run through the script with conductor Douglas Boyd and the presenters for the day poet Terry Caffrey, composer Kate Pearson and Camerata musician Helen Quayle. During the season, the children participating in the Songbook of the Earth project have been getting workshops from Terry and Kate, aimed at firing their imaginations and having fun with words and music.

The idea is to create a new song cycle, which will be performed live on the stage of The Bridgewater Hall on 19th April 2010.  The songs will also be collected together in a special book afterwards. During the show, Manchester Camerata's music director and conductor Douglas Boyd introduced the music and the orchestra, with Terry, Kate and Helen encouraging a little noisy audience participation along the way.

The result - 2500 happy school children entertained on a rainy Wednesday morning - all clamouring to get back to their classrooms to take a step closer to writing their Songs for the Earth.

The Camerata Live event at The Bridgewater Hall on 27 January 2010 is now sold out. But fear not; there are more opportunities for your school to experience the Manchester Camerata experience live in 2010.

Camerata Live is a brand new project aimed at schools and colleges in our residency areas around Manchester.

Thanks to funding from The Zochonis Charitable Trust we are now able to schools in Greater Manchester FREE tickets to Manchester Camerata concerts at the RNCM and The Bridgewater Hall. Claiming free tickets is an excellent way for you and your class to watch world-famous soloists and high quality performances of pieces often on your GCSE or A-level syllabus.

Forthcoming exciting Camerata Live concerts for you to attend are as follows:

ETERNAL BLUE HORIZONS

Saturday 30 January 2010, 7.30pm, The Bridgewater Hall

Featuring Bushra El Turk, Beethoven, and Mahler, this concert presents two highly contrasting views of nature and the earth, and is part of a wider celebration of Mahler's music by the three resident orchestras at The Bridgewater Hall.

CLASSICAL EXCHANGES

Saturday 13 March 2010, 7.30pm, The Bridgewater Hall

Featuring Haydn, Stravinsky, and Beethoven. You are very welcome to attend our Talking Point session at 6.30pm before the concert too, where Tom Pankhurst will be discussing how a musical exchange across centuries inspired Stravinsky's classically influenced Pulcinella.

If you are interested in booking seats for these concerts, what are you waiting for? Please call Jo Foxall on 0161 226 8696 for more details, or e-mail l&pintern@manchestercamerata.com

Songbook of the Earth is an excting project that Manchester Camerata and the Bridgewater Hall Community Education Trust are delivering over the 2009/10 season. Inspired by Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, we will be working with 14 primary schools across Greater Manchester, The Wirral and Chester to create a brand new song cycle inspired by the Earth, its environments and communities, which will then be performed live on the Bridgewater Hall stage, accompanied by Manchester Camerata, on 19th April 2010. All the songs will then be published in a Songbook at the end of the project.

Working with poet Terry Caffrey, composer Kate Pearson, and musicians from Manchester Camerata, each school will have three workshops over the year, where they will devise lyrics, and compose the music to set them to, before performing their new songs at the Bridgewater Hall. In addition to working directly with 14 schools, we would like to extend the opportunity to be involved in the project to other schools. By registering as an online school, you will have access to supporting materials to enable you to deliver a mini-version of the project in your school. This is ideal for teachers who are comfortable leading and delivering music with their classes. Videos of our workshops will help you to devise your own lyrics with your pupils, and then set these to music, creating your own songs. To sign up as an online school, please send an email to Charlotte Spencer at cspencer@manchestercamerata.com including the name of the lead teacher, the school name, the year group you intend to work with, a phone number and your email address. We will then send you a username and password to enable you to access the online resources.

Songbook of the Earth is part of the Songs of the Earth project supported by

Throughout September 2009, Manchester Camerata, composer Eve Harrison and Little Star Media worked with a group of strudents from Egerton Park Community Arts College in Denton, to create film and music inspired by the theme of Legends. Drawing on their own ideas and elements of film composer William Alwyn's piece, Autumn Legend, pupils composed their own music and wrote, directed, and shot their own short film. The new work was given its world premiere before Manchester Camerata's 9th October 2009 concert, Legends.

If you weren't able to attend our concert on the 9th October fear not - you can watch the film of the Legend of the One and a 1/2 Thing by clicking here.

Manchester Camerata's Learning and Partnership Team recently took part in a creative residency at Godley School in Tameside. Working with composer Richard Barnard and two Manchester Camerata musicians, the children developed Candlelas and the Witch's Cave - their own response to Manuel De Falla's dramatic ballet suite El Amor Brujo.

The resulting piece was premiered before Love, The Magician - Manchester Camerata's 26th September concert at Royal Northern College of Music. For those unable to make it, Channel M popped along to the dress rehearsal at the school and made the following film:

Jaime Martin, Camerata's guest conductor visiting from Spain, said: "It was very moving to see children perform a new piece inspired by the music of De Falla...of my homeland. If I had known it was going to be so good I would have asked them to perform it on stage".

Manchester Camerata aims to showcase the work of children and young people before each of its Manchester Season events.

The Godley School project was generously supported by The Tameside Trust.

Manchester Camerata’s 2009/10 Season centres around the theme of Exchanges, be they musical, cultural or ideological. This theme informs every aspect of our work; both on stage, in concerts, and off stage, in our Learning and Participation work. The Writing on the Wall project, Inspired by Handel’s Belshazzar, will work to explore the nature of the wall as a dividing line between contemporary “high” western art culture through music and art. The exploration will look at the communication of artistic ideas, whether the respective forms (classical music and graffiti art) have any relevance to each other, and whether engaging with historical works can make a new piece more informed and indeed give more relevant comment on society today.

Manchester Camerata’s Floating Worlds project, in collaboration with the Royal Exchange Theatre and supported by Youth Music, ran weekly throughout the Autumn term 2008. It provided a rare opportunity for young people aged 10-13 with High Functioning Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome to take part in creative musical activities; something they would normally find it difficult to access due to their particular disability. The project gave these young people a safe environment in which to discover their artistic talents, and to develop friendships, some for the very first time. An article about the project was featured in the Guardian Education Supplement. To read the article click here. If you would like to find out more about this project, click here to visit the project page.

Manchester Camerata are delighted to confirm that we will continue to bring inspiring music-based creative learning projects to Chester and the North West throughout 2009/10 thanks to the generous support of The Bank of America Charitable Foundation.

Delivered as part of the Chester Festivals Education Partnership, this year’s main project, ‘Songs of the Earth’, will explore themes of songs, lyrics, poetry and the environment through music. The project will encompass six separate but linked community arts-based learning projects, developed in partnership with some of Chester’s most exciting festivals.

As part of the Chester Literature Festival schools in the Chester area will creatively explore sections of a poem through music with Camerata musicians, a composer and a writer/poet. The participating schools will join together to perform the entire poem during the Literature Festival in October 2009. Camerata will also deliver three Family Music Days in Chester during the next 12 months, the first of which will take place during the Chester Summer Music Festival in July 2009. In addition, Camerata will work with a wide range of stakeholders throughout the Chester community to create new works.

The centrepiece of the project will be the ‘Songbook of the Earth’. This will engage 15 schools from communities in which Bank of America Associates live – Chester, The Wirral and Greater Manchester. Each school will work with Camerata musicians, a composer and a poet to create a new ‘song cycle’, drawing inspiration from science, the environment, geography, diversity and community into the song-writing process.  Songbook of the Earth will culminate in a special gala performance of the song cycle by the participating young people, a professional singer and Camerata musicians at The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, April 2010. Each song will be published in a printed songbook, documenting the project, following the gala performance.