On the 28th - 30th August this year, fifty-one children joined us for our annual Summer Music Academy. This year we were kindly hosted by Prior Park College, with the support of Head of Music, Roland Robertson and Assistant Head of Music, David Sackett.  This was our biggest summer cohort to date, with eighteen students enrolled on the chamber course and thirty-three on the main strings course.

Read about our fun-packed three days in our Summer Academy Report and take a look at some more photos on Facebook via the link below.

It is a joy to see musicians playing with their peers from further afield, and to know that there are others who share their passion, all over the country.  We look forward to encouraging more young people to apply to join organisations like the National Children's Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra and National Youth Orchestra Inspire programme.

​My boys took out their instruments without being prompted and played together at home (for the first time!) the morning after the BBC ten pieces workshop. C asked if he could take his cello into school to play Mars for his class. Thank you for inspiring them. They had a great day.
Parent of two cellists aged 9 and 7.

The BBC Ten Pieces project is a wonderful thing.  It enables musicians of all ages and stages to come together to play great works of classical music.  Our 80-strong orchestra worked with inspiring conductor Patrick Bailey to produce not only a fantastic performance of Holst's Mars from The Planet Suite, but also a brand new composition which the students entitiled: "A Time in Space (2019 Space Odyssey)". 

Groups of instrumentalists devised a short section to represent one of the planets.  Patrick cleverly wove in our very own Bath Strings Academy motif in the brass section, using Morse Code to spell out "B-S-A".  The percussion section deserve a special mention for their wonderful evocation of Deep Space, produced by three players who had never played tuned percussion before.

We are so proud of all the musicians who came and gave so much energy and commitment to the day.  Special thanks go to the tutors and volunteers who supported everyone so enthusiastically, to B&NES music service for lending instruments, and to Hayesfield Girls' School for hosting us so generously.

Next year's project will be even bigger and better, so watch this space...

Watch our film about the day...

Taking to the Free Stage at Wiltshire Music Centre is always a pleasure, with encouraging audiences and a relaxed atmosphere.  The team at WMC are dedicated to developing the audiences of the future and do great work in enabling young people to attend a huge variety of concerts across all genres. 

After performing chamber music by Mozart, Stamitz, and Haydn, plus two French folk tunes and Coldplay's Viva la Vida, our musicians were treated to a concert by violinist Sam Sweeney and his band.  They took us back in time to the First World War, with pieces inspired by a tune or story from the period, played in part on a violin constructed from parts carved by Private Richard Howard who was killed during the war, and re-constructed by a modern luthier. 

What better way to develop one's own skills than by watching and listening to the best in the business? We constantly seek to expose students to the highest quality music making, and we are so grateful that organisations like the Cavatina Trust and Wiltshire Music Centre make this possible by offering free tickets to under 25s.  

As players and teachers, we also endeavour to be constantly inspired ourselves, by working with and learning from the highest calibre chamber musicians.  Thank you to the Doric, Maggini and Martinu Quartets for being our inspiration!