News from Awards for Young Musicians
Orchestral Partnerships
We are working in conjunction with the Association of British Orchestras to develop our partnerships with the UK's leading orchestras in order to explore ways in which we can enhance the support we are able to offer to talented young musicians. We want to utilise the tremendous musical resources of these world class orchestras in as many ways as possible, enabling young people to attend concerts and recordings, meet conductors and professional musicians, explore mentoring and work experience opportunities etc. We are currently working with orchestras including the Britten Sinfonia in Cambridge, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in London and the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester.
We recently arranged for a group of 2007 Award holders to attend a Studio Recording at BBC Manchester by the BBC Philharmonic. Below is some feedback from two of the young musicians who attended, which shows the impact such an opportunity has for them.
"Thank you very much for the opportunity you gave me to go and watch the live studio recording. I don't often get to see live orchestras play, as concerts are expensive and transport is often a problem; so the chance to see the BBC Philharmonic play was amazing and extremely inspiring. I loved the way we were so close to the orchestra because it really made you feel like you were part of the performance and the music. The orchestra itself was stunning and, being a clarinettist, I love to listen to as many different clarinettists as possible. I had never heard either of the clarinettists in this performance so that was great. I was immediately drawn to the principle clarinettist John Bradbury; his tone was so beautiful and I loved the way he projected the tone of the clarinet right through the whole of the orchestra even in the very quiet passages … Thank you once again for such a brilliant opportunity and I hope to see a lot of the BBC Phil in the future." (Katie, a 17 year old clarinettist - AYM is in the process of arranging for this young musician to undertake work experience with the orchestra in her gap year before music college.)
"I really enjoyed my visit to the BBC Philharmonic recording last week, thank you for the invite. From the minute we arrived [they] made me feel really special and it was so nice to hear music played by a professional orchestra. I particularly enjoyed the Cello Concerto because I had played that before, but not the cello part obviously. The cello player was amazing though. My sister went with me because she is doing a music degree at University and … she really enjoyed it too. At the end of the concert we were given a bag of goodies including a pen, a CD and a coaster with a photo of the orchestra, they are really nice. Thank you all for a lovely day. (Shane, a 16 year old bassoonist)
Here is some more feedback, this time from a young musician who recently attended a concert by the Britten Sinfonia:
"Thank you so much for the free tickets to go and see the Britten Sinfonia, Short Stories concert. It was really good! Apart from the first piece, the Brandenburg Concerto no. 3, the rest were all new repertoire to me, (although they took this piece very fast!) My favourite piece was the concerto for oboe and bassoon by Vivaldi. I also liked the Concerto de camera by Honegger which I thought contrasted nicely with the other pieces in the first half. I really enjoyed the other Brandenburg Concerto (no. 5 in D) especially listening to the harpsichord part which has made me consider the possibility of starting to learn the harpsichord after my piano grade 8 later this year. We have a harpsichord at school so that should be possible." (Hannah, a 13 year old cellist)
Our current Bulletin is available for download here: AYM Bulletin Spring 2008. It contains news, stories and feedback from some of our award winners. The bulletin is a great opportunity for our young musicians to make their voices heard and to tell us of their musical experiences. Read it and send us your comments!
The closing date for receipt of 2008 Application Forms, Music Teacher’s Reference Forms and Headteacher’s Reference Forms was Friday 4 April 2008.
Although Applications are now closed, if you wish to view the Application forms for our 2008 Awards, they are available to download from our Guidelines and Applications page.
Our 2008 Awards have now been announced. Emails and letters have been sent to both successful and unsuccessful applicants.
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