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.

Upcoming Orchestral Days

Applications for our Lancashire Orchestral Day are now closed, and this is the final of our 2026 dates.

We’ve enjoyed welcoming young musicians to our Orchestral Days this year and look forward to sharing more information about our 2027 dates soon.

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.

Dream big

Let’s create something amazing together.

“Before my first NCO activity I had never even considered orchestra and didn’t know how awesome it could be! And now my music world has just opened entirely.”

Young Musician 2024

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.

Upcoming Orchestral Days

Further dates +

FAQs

What grade level should I list for my child? +

I can’t make the date for the Orchestral Day in my area, can I attend a different Orchestral Day? +

My child is outside the age range of 8-14, but they’re playing level is grade 2 – 5, can they take part? +

Dream big

Let’s create something amazing together.

“Before my first NCO activity I had never even considered orchestra and didn’t know how awesome it could be! And now my music world has just opened entirely.”

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