Education and Outreach Programme Report October 2019
The Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival 2019 organised a programme of concerts, education and outreach work in the local community of Hatfield and the surrounding villages inspiring, engaging and enabling the next generation of young musicians.
Thursday 26 September – we hosted three Schools’ Concerts, attended by 422 primary school children from 8 different schools + 46 accompanying adults.
Saturday 28 September – 70 adults and children attended a Family Concert.
Sunday 29 September – a masterclass given by the Navarra quartet and two student quartets from the Royal Academy of Music
Sunday 29 September – Young Musicians Platform three informal free concerts with 35-40 audience at each concert, performed by 36 students from the Mid Herts Music School (part of Hertfordshire Music Service) and Young Etheldreda’s Singers – Y.E.S!
The programme for the Schools’ and Family Concert included music from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns. In pre-concert workshops at the schools earlier in September, the children were encouraged to make animal masks and do other art work, write poetry inspired by animals and learn something of the background to the music. This included learning about when and how Saint-Saëns had composed the pieces for Carnival and the instruments and musical techniques used to create the animal “pictures” in sound. The children also discovered that he used some French folk songs in the music as well as part of “Offenbach’s “Cancan” and his own “Danse Macabre”.
The Schools’ and Family Concerts were performed by talented young students from the Purcell School of Music in Bushey under the excellent direction of Paul Hoskins, Director of Music – here they can be seen rehearsing for the concerts at St Etheldreda’s Church, opposite the Old Palace at Hatfield House.
The programme also included two animal compositions by young students from the school, Edward Tait and Kaelan Bryden-Johnson – The Night-Hunter and Bush Baby.
For the family concert, the students were joined by professional pianists, Charles Owen and Katya Apekisheva who featured in the main Festival.
St Mary’s, North Mymms
‘It was a great experience for them to hear live musicians. Thank you for your introductory lesson and for the opportunity it gave them’
Howe Dell Primary, Hatfield
‘The concert was really enjoyable and it was wonderful for the children to get up so close to the performers.’
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