The Royal Albert Hall and BBC Proms inspire future talent with a series of masterclasses with internationally celebrated artists
30 July, 2014
This summer, the Royal Albert Hall in partnership with the BBC Proms will hold a series of one-off masterclasses, aimed at inspiring young people who might not otherwise have access to such extraordinary musical opportunities.
These exclusive workshops – part of the Hall’s extensive education programme and commitment to engaging with new audiences and in conjunction with BBC Proms Learning - will provide young musicians with the chance to participate in workshops with and learn new skills from a range of world class BBC Proms artists.
During the BBC Proms (19th July – 13th September) artists including soul singer-songwriter Laura Mvula, American cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and the exuberant European Union Youth Orchestra will host exclusive masterclasses in the Hall’s varied spaces. All of these events are free and encourage students, children, and families to engage with music in a dynamic and inclusive way.
On Wednesday 30th July, Brit Award and Mercury-nominated singer-songwriter Laura Mvula will headline the first Proms music masterclass at the Hall’s intimate gig space - the Elgar Room - where she will perform three songs, interspersed with a Q&A session to an audience of 100 young people from youth groups across London.
This will be followed by members of the European Union Youth Orchestra who will take to the Hall’s world famous stage in the main auditorium on Wednesday 6th August accompanied by young orchestral musicians from across the South of England to create a super-sized orchestra of up to 170 musicians and directed by young British conductor Duncan Ward. They will spend an hour and a half rehearsing Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance, March No. 1 and Ravel’s Boléro before presenting a performance to an invited audience of young musicians and parents.
Finally on Saturday 23rd August, American cellist Alisa Weilerstein will take to the floor at the Elgar Room to conduct a classical music masterclass. The masterclass will involve a Q&A session and performance by the cellist to an audience of 40 students from the Centre for Young Musicians and Brent Music Service. Two cellists will also have the opportunity to perform to and receive coaching from Ailsa as part of the session.
Lucy Noble, Head of Programming and Education at the Hall, said: “It is a key part of our work to not only offer greater access to this world famous Grade 1 listed building and line-up of internationally celebrated performers but to also develop and extend our education offer to support cultural life of the country for future generations. We believe these initiatives offer a great way for young people to be inspired by and learn from some of music’s true greats.”
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 Sessions workshops enable younger, emerging artists to play at the Hall through reduced rental fees, but also encourage the artists to support the Hall’s education work by participating in education workshops with young people, locally and nationally.
Recent Albert Sessions workshops have seen Jake Bugg, Emeli Sandé, Foals and classical violinist Nicola Benedetti lead a series of immersive sessions with students from across London.
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
Cat O’Donnell 020 7831 3143 / codonnell@goodrelations.co.uk
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. The Hall is also a Strategic and Creative Partner for the Tri-borough Music Service, recognised as one of the country’s leading music education hubs appointed by the Arts Council.
For more information, please visit www.royalalberthall.com. Registered charity number: 254543
BBC Proms
The 120th season of the BBC Proms, the world’s largest classical music festival, opens at the Royal Albert Hall on 18 July 2014, presenting leading artists and orchestras from the UK and around the world, as well as a host of free Proms Plus events including talks, workshops, and family events.
Bringing together great orchestras, ensembles, soloists and artists from across the globe, the BBC Proms 2014 sees two months of world-class classical music making across over 90 concerts. The season culminates with the ever-popular Last Night of the Proms – itself the most famous classical music event in the world, which spills out of the Royal Albert Hall into all four nations of the UK on Saturday 13 September, with Proms in the Park events in Belfast, Glasgow, Hyde Park and Swansea.
As ever, the magic of the Proms will be relayed into people’s homes via BBC radio, television and online. All Proms programmes are broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, and this year there will be more Proms content available to listen to online for longer than ever before across PC, mobile and tablet, so you can enjoy the Proms whenever and wherever you are.
In 2014 selected Proms will also be broadcast on a number of other BBC Radio networks including BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3 and, for the first time, BBC Radio 5 live. Television broadcasts will go out on BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four, CBeebies and the Saturday evening magazine show, Proms Extra, will return on BBC Two.
The Proms runs from Friday 18 July to Saturday 13 September 2014, and full information on the season is available at bbc.co.uk/proms.