Jake Bugg Heads up Royal Albert Hall’s 2014 Education Workshops Programme
4 February, 2014
2014 Brit Award nominee partners with Royal Albert Hall to offer once in a life time opportunity for young musicians
Singer-songwriter Jake Bugg is teaming up with the Royal Albert Hall to engage in the venue’s music workshops as part of the Hall’s education programme. Jake will headline the first workshops of 2014 in February followed later in the year by workshops from recent chart toppers, The 1975, and classical trumpet musician and winner of three Classical BRIT Awards, Alison Balsom. All three are carrying out workshops to support their appearances at the Hall in 2014 as part of its Albert Sessions initiative. The workshops are part of the Hall’s education and outreach programme which currently reaches 100,000 young people each year.
During the week of the Brit Awards, Jake Bugg will spend two days (17 & 21 February) at the Royal Albert Hall working with 10 young vocalists aged 16+ from schools in the Tri-Borough Music Hub. The students at the workshops will be working directly with Jake as well as professional singer and vocal coach Patsy McKay, exploring, learning and rehearsing his song ‘Broken’. These unique sessions offer students the opportunities to learn from one of their idols, asking questions about his experiences and picking up tips about life in the music business. These students will then have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of joining Jake on the Hall’s main stage to perform with him at his Albert Session concert after the workshop on Friday 21st.
The Hall’s Albert Sessions enable artists who have not previously headlined at the Hall to showcase their talent on the main stage. As well as the education workshops, ticket prices are reduced for the events, enabling a wider audience to attend the concerts. It is a key part of the Hall’s work to offer greater access to its Grade 1 listed building and line-up of world class performers.
The education programme run by the Hall offers young people in London and beyond the opportunity to learn from and be inspired by the finest music artists on the scene. The Albert Session workshops have already seen Emeli Sandé write a brand new song with students from Hackney and Lewisham, award-winning guitar band Foals create a new version of one of their songs with students from Haringey and Islington and classical violinist Nicola Benedetti lead a three day series of sessions with Conservatoire undergraduate string players, hand-picked grade 8 violinists from local schools and 150 young grade 4-6 string players from across London.
Jake Bugg commented: “I am truly honoured to be hosting these workshops at the Royal Albert Hall, helping their education programme and sharing my music. We need initiatives like this to inspire young musicians. This will be my first time preforming at the Royal Albert Hall too. It’s such an iconic venue and so many of my idols that inspired me have performed there. I can’t believe I am following in their footsteps.”
Caroline McNamara, Senior Education Consultant at the Royal Albert Hall, said: “The workshops build on our education programme, which last year reached over 100,000 people. It’s great to be able to work with such popular and talented acts such as Jake Bugg to host exclusive sessions with local children as part of the Hall’s charitable mission to offer education and champion youth music. We’re delighted to be able to give local students a special opportunity to both learn and perform with Jake in one of the world’s most famous venues.”
As a charity, the Royal Albert Hall strives to develop its education offer as part of its extensive public benefit remit. Not just providing a venue for some of the world’s most popular artists, its education and outreach programme aims to support cultural life of the country for future generations making the Hall more accessible to all.
ENDS
Notes to editor:
For more information on the education programmes of the Royal Albert Hall, please contact:
Jacqueline Clifton 020 7861 3134 / jclifton@goodrelations.co.uk
Sean Carrigan 020 7959 0531/ seanc@royalalberthall.com
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is the world’s most famous stage. Its breathtaking auditorium hosts over 370 shows a year by the world’s greatest artists. The magical atmosphere combined with inspired artists creates legendary events.
Opened in 1871 as part of Prince Albert’s vision for a centre for the Arts and Sciences, the Hall is a registered charity which operates without public funding, remaining true to his founding ambitions within a modern context. Extending the brand with 200 events outside the auditorium, the Hall has broadened its appeal to younger, diverse audiences whilst still engaging its existing customers.
The Hall also offers the Elgar Room, a state-of-the-art small-scale performance space which hosts performances of classical music, jazz and world music, comedy, dance and hush, a series of gigs for just signed bands throughout the year. In the main auditorium, it offers the Albert Sessions, an initiative that encourages up and coming acts to play at the Hall by offering reduced rental fees to promoters and lower ticket prices to encourage younger audiences to visit the Hall. It also works extensively with schools, young people, disadvantaged groups and partners such as Music For Youth through its Education programme, reaching over 100,000 participants each year as part of its extensive public benefit remit. It has also been appointed by the Arts Council as one of the country’s regional music education hubs.
For more information, please visit www.royalalberthall.com. Registered charity number: 254543