Announcing celebratory orchestral days for NCO Members

We are so pleased to be bringing together the Members of our National programme from 2020 and 2021 for celebratory orchestral days this autumn, in what will be their first in-person activity together since the Covid-19 pandemic began.

The young musicians, whose orchestral residencies were unable to take place, will finally get together in the impressive Great Hall of the Richard Hoggart Building at Goldsmiths University, London for orchestral days this November and December.

Many of these musicians will be reuniting having been NCO Members together in previous years, whilst others will be meeting for the first time. Many will have got to know each other through NCO’s successful online programmes; NCOnline 2020 and NCO Online 2021, programmes which kept young musicians in touch and learning through challenging times.

Due care will be taken with a number of Covid secure measures and the safety of young musicians, their families, as well as NCO and venue staff a priority. NCO will continue to monitor the pandemic and react accordingly.

Catherine Arlidge, NCO Artistic & Educational Director, said:
“There’s no doubt these remarkable, and as we have found out, resilient, young musicians are all very excited to finally get together, learn and rehearse fantastic repertoire before a musical sharing with family and friends at the end of the day. We cannot wait to bring them together for joyful music making and celebration, and to hear them play!”

The three groups will play ambitious and varied repertoire with inspiring conductors and tutors. Two of the three orchestras will also have the opportunity to perform new music from composers who are part of ABRSM’s pilot Composer Mentor programme.

THE MUSIC
Main orchestra

The young musicians from NCO’s main orchestra were at most 14 when they last auditioned and are now mostly 15 and 16 years old, the eldest NCO Members ever! This will be their final NCO activity, as the programme is usually for 8-14 year olds. It's a big moment, particularly for those who have been members for several years and is a wonderful final opportunity to play together, in a huge orchestra of 130 young people.

The Main Orchestra will be learning and performing the thrilling and challenging Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov under the baton of Dominic Wheeler, who last worked with NCO in 2019.

On the day young musicians will also work with musicians from The Yehudi Menuhin School.

Two younger orchestras
Two younger orchestras will work with conductors Caroline Hobbs-Smith and Andy Morley, both of whom have a longstanding NCO history. Caroline will conduct Florence Price’s Juba Dance from Symphony No.1, Marquez’ Danzon 2 and Badelt’s Pirates of the Caribbean. Andy will conduct Handel’s Alla Hornpipe, Sibelius’ Finlandia, Ungar’s Ashokan Farewell and Offenbach’s Can Can.

These two groups of young musicians will also perform new compositions from ABRSM composers.

ABRSM’s Composer Mentor collaborations for NCO
ABSRM’s new six month pilot Composer Mentor scheme looks to support a new generation of musicians by opening up the world of music education. It aims to support composers from a wider range of communities and backgrounds and to boost the variety of music available to everyone. Their pilot cohort have been selected with the help of The Ivors Academy.

Kristina Arakelyan and Su-Ting Han have collaborated to compose a short piece for one of NCO’s younger orchestras to play during their orchestral day, inspired by the theme of dance and song.
Kemal Yusuf and Andrew Chen have composed for the final orchestral day, on the theme of dance.
Each pair has developed their expertise through their compositions for an ambitiously large orchestration tailored to the age and ability of each group of young musicians.

ABRSM Chief Executive Chris Cobb said:
“The mentoring scheme is an incredibly exciting element of our work to promote music from a far greater range of communities. We’re confident that the programme will help each of the talented composers involved on to the next stages of their careers and, in doing so, inspire an even richer and more exciting variety of music for us all to enjoy in the future.”

The four composers are being mentored by the brilliant Ryan Linham, a regular resident artist with NCO, who most recently composed NCO Mamboand NCO On the Move for NCO’s 2020 and 2021 online programmes.

We can't wait!