Students

This document contains the presentation slides from a talk by arts consultant Heather Maitland on young people and learning.

St Christopher Chamber Orchestra wanted to create a link between music and technology, and therefore engaged young students from the Vilnius Technical University as collaborators in a unique concert. The concert was held in the turbine hall at the Museum of Energy and Technology. The ensemble composed short pieces for the students to play, with the technical instruments, old machines and turbines as musical instruments. This concert report describes the process and outcome of the project.

Sinfonietta Rīga held a concert marking the reopening of an old concert hall, hidden from the public for more than 30 years. The concert hall is located at the Latvian Academy of Science, and the concert engaged young scientists in the project. With the multidisciplinary nature of the concert, and the venue being a Soviet era heritage, Sinfonietta Rīga's ambition was to attract a broad variety of audience groups: Academics, urban explorers and cultural heritage enthusiasts. This report describes the project and its results, pointing to the great promotional effect for the ensemble.

Polish Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej host their own annual New Music Festival. The opening concert was aimed at young people, aged 13-19, attending music schools. To be as close to their target audience as possible, the concert was held at the Szymanowski Secondary Music School. This document in brief describes the concert.

The Hebrides Ensemble held two concerts aiming to take their work beyond the major venues, comparing the audience's experience at a concert hall and at an alternative venue. The ensemble held a third concert marking the start of a new collaboration with young musicians from the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland. They made an extensive audience survey at the three concerts. The survey indicates that when programming new music as part of a concert, the ensemble should make sure that the whole experience matches the concert. It also shows that including modern work in classical programmes can help redefine the perception of what your ensemble represents amongst audiences. This evaluation report shows the findings of the survey.

Cantus Ensemble joined forces with young students of animated film to create a unique experience of contemporary music. The students created animated films to be screened during the live performance of the ensemble. The goal was to address a new, young audience by mixing art forms and ditching the formal concert hall. This evaluation report describes the concept and process of the creative collaboration and sums up the response from the audience and what the ensemble learned from the experience.

The Finnish ensemble Avanti! Chamber Orchestra played a unique concert with no less than 60 children on stage – all playing the clarinet. Celebrating their cooperation with the Helsinki Conservatory, the ensemble wanted to engage young children in the world of new music – not only as an audience, but as contributing participants in a professional concert. This document in brief describes the concept of the concert.