Pupils and professionals come together for Sheffield music festival

Schoolchildren from across the city and South Yorkshire enjoyed free lunchtime concerts during the Music in the Round May Festival.
Seascapes Group - Music inthe RoundSeascapes Group - Music inthe Round
Seascapes Group - Music inthe Round

Wales High School, Ridgewood School in Doncaster, Bents Green Specialist Secondary School, Westbourne School and Emmaus Primary School pupils all attended concerts. Artworks relating to classical music were produced by Emmaus Primary School pupils ahead of their treat.

Around 20 pupils from Yewlands Academy joined 30 choir members from Sheffield Young Singers for one concert, Seascapes, in the Crucible Studio.

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Written purely for performance by school children and professional musicians by the late British composer, David Bedford, this concert featured four new soundscapes composed by Y7 students from Yewlands.

Inspired by the elemental features of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, students combined electronic and acoustic sounds with live music to create a multimedia reinterpretation of the ballad.

A further 120 pupils from Bents Green Specialist Secondary School, Hope Valley College, Hayfield School and Ridgewood School took part in a BBC Ten Pieces day of classical music making and filming, all as part of the festival.

Fraser Wilson, Learning and Participation Manager said: “The week was exceptionally inspiring in terms of our work with young people from across South Yorkshire on classical music projects. We enjoyed young people’s participation in a Seascapes concert, an amazing day of filming and music making connected to the BBC Ten Pieces project, and we received a brilliant response to our offer of free tickets to lunchtime concerts.

“We are now in discussions about extending our programme of concerts for schools into next year’s May Festival.”