First Proms to be revealed in 2016 season include secondary school students' BBC Ten Pieces performances

For the second year running, BBC Music’s classical music initiative Ten Pieces will take over the world-famous Royal Albert Hall - this year, secondary schools students will have the opportunity to perform their creative responses as part of the BBC Proms.

Published: 15 January 2016
The BBC Proms has always played a vital role in introducing young people to classical music and I am thrilled that these Ten Pieces concerts will be a part of the 2016 Proms season.
— David Pickard, Director, BBC Proms
  • Ten Pieces Proms announced: Saturday 23 July and Sunday 24 July at the Royal Albert Hall, London
  • Secondary school students offered chance to be part of the BBC Proms
  • BBC Performing Groups launch new Ten Pieces Coaching Scheme, offering bespoke opportunities for schools and organisations to receive free coaching
  • Schools and families across the UK can experience music from Ten Pieces live, with a series of concerts led by the BBC Performing Groups

For the second year running, BBC Music’s classical music initiative Ten Pieces will take over the world-famous Royal Albert Hall - this year, secondary schools students will have the opportunity to perform their creative responses as part of the BBC Proms.

The BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Alpesh Chauhan, will perform the 10 pieces in two BBC Proms, on Saturday 23 July and Sunday 24 July. The Ten Pieces Proms are the only Proms announced so far as part of the 2016 season, with further details about the full season to be released in April.

The two Proms will showcase a range of students’ creative responses to the 10 pieces - through composition, dance, digital art, or performance poetry. Schools can upload their students’ creative responses via the Ten Pieces website (bbc.co.uk/tenpieces) - and responses received by 24 March will be considered for the Ten Pieces Proms. Additionally, all responses uploaded by Friday 27 May will be published in the online Ten Pieces Showcase.

The announcement coincides with this year’s Ten Pieces Champions’ Day at the Barbican in London, where music, dance and art organisations from across the UK gather together to share ideas and learning from the first year and a half of this unique and innovative project.

David Pickard, Director of the BBC Proms, says: “The BBC Proms has always played a vital role in introducing young people to classical music and I am thrilled that these Ten Pieces concerts will be a part of the 2016 Proms season. This is such an important initiative and I am delighted that the Proms can be a part of it.”

Alpesh Chauhan, conductor of the Ten Pieces Proms, says: “It's inspiring for me, and for all of the musicians involved, to see the success of BBC Ten Pieces, and to hear some of the wonderful feedback we’ve had for the project. We’re really excited to be taking the Ten Pieces to the world-renowned Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, and to see how students have been responding to this exciting music.”

Veronica Shaw, a headteacher involved in last year’s Ten Pieces Proms, said: "I have been a teacher/headteacher since the early 1980s and can say that, without a doubt, this was the most exciting event I have ever had the pleasure to take part in. The atmosphere in the hall was electric and it was a total joy to see and hear children making such glorious music together."

Nicola Benedetti, Ten Pieces Ambassador, says: "I am so hugely honoured to be involved in the BBC Ten Pieces project. I am quite sure it will be exciting and enriching for all children, but above all it is highly educational and substantive. This is something you cannot miss!"

Led by BBC Learning, BBC Music and the BBC Performing Groups, Ten Pieces is an ambitious initiative for schools, opening up a world of classical music to a generation of children. This second set of 10 pieces, aimed at students aged 11-14, follows on from the first year of the hugely successful project, which has so far seen more than half of the UK’s primary schools and nearly half of secondary schools engaging in the initiative.

New for this year, professional musicians from the BBC Performing Groups and Ulster Orchestra will share their knowledge and expertise with aspiring young performers across the UK as part of BBC Ten Pieces Coaching Scheme. Schools and organisations working with 11-14 year-olds to perform the Ten Pieces can submit an expression of interest for free coaching from professional musicians to support their musical activities. Opportunities include vocal or instrumental coaching, side-by-side rehearsals with BBC musicians and creative response workshops. Schools and organisations should visit bbc.co.uk/tenpieces and click on ‘BBC Ten Pieces Coaching Scheme’ to find eligibility criteria and download an Expression of Interest form to submit by Friday 29 January. There may even be an opportunity for groups who are part of the Coaching Scheme to be involved in the Ten Pieces Proms!

The BBC Performing Groups are also putting on a series of celebratory free Ten Pieces Schools Concerts across the country, offering schools an opportunity to hear the 10 pieces performed live, and highlighting a range of children’s responses to the 10 pieces. There will also be four Ten Pieces Family Concerts in Glasgow, London, Cardiff and Manchester, where families can enjoy highlights from all the Ten Pieces repertoire, live in the concert hall. Many Ten Pieces Champions are also putting on their own Ten Pieces live concerts over the next six months. Look out for more information about these performances on the Ten Pieces website.

Ten Pieces Family Concerts
These concerts are open to everyone. For tickets and more information, visit bbc.co.uk/orchestras
Sunday 7 February - City Halls, Glasgow: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Monday 2 May - Barbican, London: BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sunday 15 May - St David’s Hall, Cardiff: BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Saturday 11 June - The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester: BBC Philharmonic

Ten Pieces Schools Concerts
Places allocated to schools via music Hubs and music services (not open to the general public)
Monday 18 April - Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham: BBC Symphony Orchestra
Tuesday 19 April – Symphony Hall, Birmingham: BBC Concert Orchestra
Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 April - Colston Hall, Bristol: BBC Concert Orchestra
Tuesday 3 May – Barbican, London: BBC Symphony Orchestra
Wednesday 4 May - Preston Guildhall: BBC Philharmonic
Thursday 5 May - MediaCityUK, Salford: BBC Philharmonic
Monday 16 May – Rhydycar Leisure Centre, Methyr Tydfil: BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Tuesday 17 May – Newport Centre: BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Tuesday 7 June – City Halls, Glasgow: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

Notes to Editors

The Ten Pieces for Secondary Schools are:

  • JS Bach, orch. Stokowski - Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
  • Bernstein - 'Mambo' from Symphonic Dances from 'West Side Story'
  • Bizet - 'Habanera' and 'Toreador Song' from 'Carmen Suite No. 2'
  • Anna Clyne - Night Ferry
  • Haydn - Trumpet Concerto (3rd movement)
  • Gabriel Prokofiev - Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra (5th movement)
  • Shostakovich - Symphony No. 10 (2nd movement)
  • Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending
  • Verdi - 'Dies Irae' and ‘Tuba Mirum’ from 'Requiem'
  • Wagner - 'Ride of the Valkyries' from 'Die Walküre'

Ten Pieces II

  • Tens of thousands of secondary school students across the UK saw a specially produced cinematic film, either at nationwide cinema screenings or via DVD, designed to inspire students to get creative with classical music. The film, starring the BBC Philharmonic, included celebrity presenters Clara Amfo, Christopher Eccleston, Pixie Lott and James May.
  • Schools are encouraged to upload their students’ creative responses , through composition, dance, digital art, or performance poetry, to the BBC via the BBC Ten Pieces website.
  • Schools and organisations are able to draw on a number of resources at this stage, including online resources such as lesson plans and orchestral arrangements; performances and coaching by the BBC Performing Groups; and workshops and teacher training sessions from some of the 262 music, dance and arts organisations that have signed up as Champions for Ten Pieces in their communities.
  • The year culminates with events celebrating the students’ creative responses, including two BBC Proms. The BBC’s Performing Groups will also take the music of Ten Pieces to schools concerts and family concerts across the UK.
  • The project has backing from 11 Ambassadors, helping to inspire children and the wider public with their passion for classical music: band Clean Bandit, trumpeter Alison Balsom, violinist Nicola Benedetti, harpist Catrin Finch, jazz pianist Julian Joseph, singer/songwriter and broadcaster Cerys Matthews, broadcaster Suzy Klein, cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, trombonist Peter Moore, composer and DJ Nitin Sawhney, and baritone Roderick Williams.

CD4/DH

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