A wonderful week of musical collaboration in Shrewsbury!
While our 12–13-year-old musicians were gathering at Sherborne School, our 13–14-year-old musicians were spending their own week at Shrewsbury School, preparing for their American Concert at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.
Conducted by Andrew Morley, the orchestra spent the week working with their tutors to prepare the programme, with rehearsals and sectionals forming the backbone of their time at Shrewsbury. During his time at the residential, Wellbeing Lead Henry Cookey led a series of teamwork exercises. One saw the musicians working together to move a set of sticks across the room without letting them fall, requiring them to communicate and respond to each other’s movements.
Creative Lead Jonathan James led the week’s Surround Sound activity, based around the theme An American in Shropshire. The activity gave the musicians a chance to explore ideas beyond the concert programme.
There were plenty of lighter moments during the week too, some of which made their way onto social media. The harpists created a slapstick video featuring a harp appearing to come to life and chase them around the grounds, while the flute section joined in with a trend showing off their instruments. The bassoons created a ragtime-inspired video, complete with props, costumes and a fun cameo from Henry Cookey!
The week also included a side-by-side project with Liverpool Philharmonic’s In Harmony. We welcomed 11 young musicians from In Harmony to rehearse and perform ‘Hoe Down’ from Copland’s Rodeo alongside the orchestra. They first spent an afternoon learning the music with NCO tutors before joining the residential at Shrewsbury School for a day, taking part in rehearsals and joining Henry Cookey’s wellbeing session.
Two of the young musicians were also interviewed on stage by Andrew Morley during the performance, talking about their experience of taking part in the project and working alongside NCO.
The week culminated in American Concert at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. The programme brought together music by Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Dominique Le Gendre and Leonard Bernstein, including Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man and Rodeo, Gershwin’s Cuban Overture and An American in Paris, and Le Gendre’s Concerto for Orchestra.
The concert also featured a Q&A with Dominique Le Gendre, giving the audience the chance to hear from the composer about Concerto for Orchestra. The In Harmony musicians joined the orchestra on stage for their performance of ‘Hoe Down’ from Rodeo, before Bernstein’s ‘Mambo’ from West Side Story Symphonic Dances brought the concert to a close as the encore.
