Orchestral Days

Non-Auditioned Orchestral workshops for young musicians

Orchestral Days are designed to support young musicians in the earlier stages of their playing, who are not already part of our auditioned orchestras. They are delivered around England for the children local to the venue by our friendly and experienced tutor team.

They are free to attend and open to any young musician in years 4-9 playing between grades 2-5. You don’t have to have taken grade exams or to audition to join.

Orchestral Days typically run from 10-4pm and include learning a specially arranged ensemble piece in the morning and exploring creative composition and improvisation in the afternoon.

Explore this page to find out where our next Orchestral Days will be.

Upcoming Orchestral Days

Join us on Saturday 20th June 2026 for a free fun day of music-making for children new to NCO, in partnership with Hull Music Service.

This opportunity is for children from the Humber Region.

Where: Albemarle Centre, 60 Ferensway, Hull, HU2 8LN
When: 10am – 4pm (including a short sharing for parents at 3.30pm)
Who: Children aged 8-14 and playing at around Grade 2-5 standard on traditional orchestral instruments (including tenoroon, cornet, euphonium, treble reading brass players and drum kit).

The first part of the day will be spent learning and playing a specially arranged piece of music with our conductor, Veronica Urrego and our super team of tutors. The second half of the day are where the group will have a chance to create their own piece of music with composer, Richard Shrewsbury. The day will end with a short sharing for parents and carers.

Please complete our Orchestral Days Application form before 9am on Monday 20th April. 

Apply

Join us on Sunday 21st June 2026 for a free fun day of music-making for children new to NCO, in partnership with Lincolnshire Music Service.

This opportunity is for children from Lincolnshire and close bordering towns.

Where: Cherry Willingham Primary School, Lincoln, LN3 4AS
When: 10am – 4pm (including a short sharing for parents at 3.30pm)
Who: Children aged 8-14 and playing at around Grade 2-5 standard on traditional orchestral instruments (including tenoroon, cornet, euphonium, treble reading brass players and drum kit).

The first part of the day will be spent learning and playing a specially arranged piece of music with our conductor, Veronica Urrego and our super team of tutors. The second half of the day are where the group will have a chance to create their own piece of music with composer, Richard Shrewsbury. The day will end with a short sharing for parents and carers.

Please complete our Orchestral Days Application form before 9am on Monday 20th April.

Apply

FAQs

The reason we ask for what grade/level your child is playing at is so that we can prepare the music and our teams and so that we can build the orchestra to best support all children taking part.

The most important thing is that your child feels comfortable with the music they are playing on the day so that they can enjoy themselves!

So please list the grade/level that they are most confident playing at.

If, for example, they have just done their grade 2 exam and their playing is most confident at that level, it’s best to put down grade 2, rather than the grade that they are working to next.

If you’re still not sure what to list, their instrumental teacher may be able to help you or you can send us an email at info@nco.org.uk with some more information on their playing experience, so we can guide you.

We have a set number of places in each Orchestral Day, so it’s really important that children from the local area are able to have opportunity to take part. With that in mind, we aren’t able to offer children places outside the area in which they live.

Where you live in a close bordering town, we’ll take this into consideration, so please select the day you believe applies to you and email some extra information to us at info@nco.org.uk e.g. My child attends the music hub in this area.

Unfortunately, not this time, as our Orchestral Days and our Support Teams are tailored to support children aged 8-14.

If they are younger than that age range, do encourage them to continue enjoying their playing and look out for Orchestral Days with NCO in the future.

If they are older than that, you might like to have a look at what their Music Hub is recommending or to look at opportunities with other music organisations like National Youth Orchestra.

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