News & Press

Crowning achievement for Camden & Islington school children as they perform new work with world leading orchestra.

‘Music for a Fickle King’ is a new work, being premiered by a group of London school children on Friday 8 July, alongside the world leading Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE) at Kings Place, London N1.

Children taking part in the OAE Schools Concert include pupils from Argyle, Beckford, Brecknock, and Richard Cobden primary schools in Camden and Islington.

The schools are involved as part of The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts’ Start programme.

Start has enabled the children to come into Kings Place and experience the OAE performing both Music for a Fickle King and Mozart’s Symphony No.40. Members of OAE have then run in-school workshops for the children exploring the instruments played and the mood and themes of the music.

The children are encouraged to develop a critical analysis, to say what the music makes them feel, and to write about and comment on the experience of attending the Schools Concert.

“Start is working with children who are living virtually next door to the OAE but for a variety of reasons don’t have the opportunity to come to Kings Place to see, hear and work with a professional orchestra. Children & the Arts helps to encourage an engagement with the arts by funding and supporting arts venues across the country to build partnerships with selected primary and secondary schools in their area.

We know that early engagement with the arts has a positive impact on children; improving confidence and communication, and encouraging independent thought and creativity,” said Jeremy Newton, Chief Executive, The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts.

The Start schools will be joining the Foundling Choir and other local schools to form a chorus of more than 370 children performing the new composition at Kings Place. There will also be 107 recorders and 60 tin whistles being played by the children.

Inspired by the music of William Boyce who was ‘master of the King’s music’ from 1775, ‘Music for a Fickle King’ was written by composer Harvey Brough. During the performance, OAE harpsichordist Steven Devine will be dressed as the king of the song, a demanding character who is always changing his mind, and requires something new for each day of the week, from “A chocolate violin’ to ‘A red robin dancing the Highland Fling.” Other lines from the song include:

“His Highness wants a famous ring. Our king must have some bling!”

Luckily the king in the tale, who is very popular if a little demanding, goes on to show incredible generosity to his people.

Harvey Brough explained how he has approached this very special concert:

“I wanted to give the children a lively, fun and humorous way of exploring the world of baroque music. It’s a fantastic opportunity for them to play alongside the outstanding Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and my work will be performed together with masterpieces by Handel and Boyce.”

Cherry Forbes, Oboist with the OAE and Education Director, ran the in-school workshops:

“The OAE loves to share its work with the local community around Kings Place, where we are based, and with schools across London.  We encourage the children to be enquiring and enlightened, and to challenge themselves – the orchestra’s own ethos. We and they have had lots of fun with Harvey’s piece.”

Zuhur, aged 9, from Richard Cobden School explained what it was like to have Cherry visit the school:

“The music came alive to me. I learned that music is a passion for life and every music is unique in its own way.”

The schools concert will be held from 11.30am to 12.30pm on Friday 8th July in Hall One, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 .

For further information on The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts please visit www.childrenandarts.org.uk

Ends

Notes to Editors

Other local schools participating in the Start programme but not taking part in the concert on Friday 8th July are St. Albans Church of England Primary School and  Copenhagen Primary School. Both of these schools have taken part in an earlier concert on Friday 1st July.

For press enquiries contact:
Katy Bell, Press Manager, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment on 07834 603 444 or email katy.bell@oae.co.uk

Marcus Stanton, The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts on 07900 891287 or email marcus_stanton@btopenworld.com    

The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts (Children & the Arts) is one of The Prince’s Charities and has HRH The Prince of Wales as its President. There are 20 independent charities in the group, which is the largest multi-cause charitable enterprise in the UK.
 
Children & the Arts is an educational charity which champions the power of the arts to transform and enrich the lives of disadvantaged children across the UK. Our projects cover all arts forms including visual art, music, drama, film, dance, storytelling and poetry.
 
We know that early engagement with the arts has a positive impact on young people: raising aspirations, increasing confidence, developing communication skills, and improving academic performance in class. Perhaps most importantly the arts encourage creativity, experimentation and fun, often changing a child’s attitude towards learning forever.
 
Despite these facts there are still thousands of children who due to financial, social or even geographical barriers leave school having never set foot in an art gallery, watched a performance in a theatre or listened to an orchestra play. Through the work of Children & the Arts children learn that cultural venues are welcoming, accessible and exciting places to visit.
 
Our education programmes have helped to create long-term partnerships between arts organisations and their local schools. Our two core programmes, Start and Quests both highlight the potential of learning outside the classroom, enabling children to visit their local cultural venue to work with professional artists, and  then developing this experience through class-based projects and activities.

We encourage teachers to use the arts as a learning tool in class, and provide specialist training and materials to empower teachers to bring the inspirational world of the arts alive in the classroom.
 
We are a strong and committed advocate of arts education and the value it can provide to many disadvantaged children. Since 2006 we have worked with over 100,000 children but in the next few years we intend to triple this figure.
 
For more information please visit www.childrenandarts.org.uk