'Young players have tremendous spirit and work hard'

An orchestra's work with young musicians has been a major part of its ongoing success, its conductor says.

Peter Morris, who has led Wolverhampton Symphony Orchestra for the past 22 years, said the collaboration had been a surprising triumph, but "lovely to see".

Older and younger players have both learned from one another, he added. The work also led to the orchestra being nominated for an award from the Royal Philharmonic Society.

Although established for more than 50 years, the orchestra only began working with youngsters about four years ago and is now set to host a "play day" next weekend.

"We decided we'd invite some of the better players from Wolverhampton Youth Orchestra to come and contribute to one of our concerts, and they were an absolute surprise because they were so good and so willing", Mr Morris said.

"It quite suddenly brought the average age of our orchestra down a bit, which is no bad thing."

They have since put on concerts at the civic hall in Wolverhampton, playing orchestral pieces to 2,000 11-year-olds.

Mr Morris - a clarinettist and organist - was first inspired into music as a child.

"I went to a very musical school in Manchester and was a cathedral chorister and that kind of thing, did a music degree, and I've been working as a conductor and a player in the West Midlands for the last 50 years."

He said the symphony orchestra's partnership with the youth orchestra had helped bring about bigger audiences, with parents being interested, as well as additional publicity for their concerts.

The orchestra rehearses once a week and usually organises three or four concerts each year.

"It's a lovely group of amateur musicians - they're not professionals at all, but they cover all the various instruments of the orchestra and they work very hard and there's a tremendous spirit among them," Mr Morris said.

"We've got some good players, so our repertoire is actually quite interesting and the orchestra definitely likes that - a variety of things and we have good audiences too, so it all seems to be working very well."

Kieran O'Donnell, who plays clarinet in the orchestra and is also head of Wolverhampton Music Service, said it was great to have a symphony orchestra in the local area to encourage younger musicians.

"When they play music, they have to learn to persevere at things, to be resilient, to meet new people, to socialise, to communicate," he said.

"And all of those things, you get in an orchestra – you get that sense of teamwork."

It was "very easy to talk young people down," Mr O'Donnell added, but the musicians who have joined the orchestra have thrived from being part of it, bringing a fresh energy to its work.

"I think that kind of kind of transferrable energy is all part of music making and it's what makes it brilliant," he said.

Mr Morris said the award nomination was "quite exciting and quite a validation" of the work they had been doing.

"It's getting people together to work quite hard to a sort of particular end, so we have a performance in mind of the various pieces that we do," he said.

"It's the fulfilment of getting a musical performance together, of practising and working at things together and gradually polishing the pieces until we've got a really impressive performance."

Because of the partnership between the orchestra and the city's music service, the orchestra has a good future, he added.

"You feel that it's a very good service for these students to be able to let them play music, which they wouldn't otherwise have a chance of playing if they weren't in the orchestra," he said.

Mr Morris's wife, Jane Eminson, also plays in the orchestra, holding the position of first flute.

"It's a great buzz of achievement," she said.

"It's a friendly group, and it's a fantastic thing to do, weekly rehearsals and then perform in the concerts."

The orchestra is hosting a "play day" on 1 November, between 10:00 GMT and 16:00.

It is open to members and non-members, with more information available on the orchestra's website.

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