Young Proms Performers Revealed!

This year's Ten Pieces Secondary Proms' young performers are:

• Able Orchestra

• Animate Orchestra

• Bangor Grammar School

• Hestercombe Centre for Young Musicians

• Wildern School

We caught up with some of the educators and students about their upcoming appearance at the Royal Albert Hall.

Find out what some of their teachers said:

What work have you done for the Ten Pieces project?

The Wildern School Dance Department have been using six of the pieces from the Ten Pieces project. Our more able and talented dance company ‘Bare Roots’ have been working on a response to Vaughan Williams' ‘The Lark Ascending’ and now Shostakovich’s ‘Symphony No. 10' (2nd movement). The Ten Pieces has been a fantastic way to inspire our students using a repertoire of classical music.

What was your reaction to being told that your pupils would be performing at the Royal Albert Hall?

When I received the phone call I was absolutely ecstatic! I tried to act out to my colleague what was happening while I was on the phone and then ran into my Head teacher’s office to tell her the good news! I think my words were ‘I have just had the best phone call of my life!’

How do you and your students feel about performing at the Proms?

It means so much to me and my pupils to be invited to perform at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Ten Pieces Proms. It really is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am so very proud of my pupils for being selected. It has been amazing to work with Denni Sayers and have her guidance and input on our creative response to Shostakovich’s ‘Symphony No. 10' (2nd movement). It still seems unreal at the moment, a dream come true for everyone involved.

What work have you done with the Ten Pieces project?

After listening to the Ten Pieces, it was the rhythmic and melodic elements of the 'Mambo' from Bernstein's 'West Side story', and 'Habanera' by Bizet that captivated the students imagination most of all. The students began to improvise with these ideas and developed them into motifs which were recorded and then formed the basis of a score individual to the orchestral instruments, Outwood Academy Portland, and the electronic music performed by Fountaindale students using iPads.

What was your reaction to being told that your pupils would be performing at the Royal Albert Hall?

Amazed! Just could not believe it! What an opportunity? Being a part of the project had already had a huge impact on our students. Playing alongside members of the Halle orchestra was so inspirational setting the standards that they now want to reach, understanding that music is a universal language that everyone can access, through an iPad, clarinet without barriers. And to perform as part of the proms, at the Royal Albert Hall, with the BBC orchestra? Wow!

What does it mean to you and your pupils?

WE are so excited, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Students have been involved in the whole process of composing, realisation and now get to perform their response with a world class orchestra in the famous Royal Albert Hall.

What are you most looking forward to about the Proms?

The atmosphere of this occasion and witnessing the students reaction to being a part of it!

*The Able Orchestra project is produced by County Youth Arts and Orchestras Live in partnership with Nottinghamshire Music Hub, Inspire Trust, Nottingham University and Arts Council England.

What work have you done with the Ten Pieces project?

My colleagues and I have used the film on many different occasions in the classroom and set the students to work together in small groups to devise musical compositions using different techniques or aspects of the chosen pieces, for example, using ostinato techniques, or using graphic scores, or antiphonal effects, or rhythmic repetition. I have also used some of the orchestral arrangements with our orchestra and I hope to continue dipping into the resources next year.

The BBC Ten Pieces project - Primary and Secondary - has been absolutely excellent and a wonderful introduction to such a wide variety of pieces, including some of the contemporary works which not all the teachers knew before getting involved so everyone has learnt something.

What was your reaction to being told that your pupils would be performing at the Royal Albert Hall?

I was absolutely over the moon and so pleased for the students as it is recognition of their work and the fantastic learning environment that the Hestercombe Centre for Young Musicians and Guildhall School provides for them on a weekly basis. It is brilliant that the BBC Proms has been able to include a wide variety of creatives responses to the Ten Pieces, as presumably that involves taking some risks when working with less experienced performers but then without those risks the Proms would not be exciting and engaging for all parts of society.

What does it mean to you and your pupils?

I am so proud of what the students have achieved and I am so pleased they were willing to allow me to put their piece forward. I think it is really special and deserves to be heard, and it is fantastic that their piece can be heard by a much wider audience – much, much wider! The orchestration by Gareth Glyn is fantastic and it will really support the students in their performance with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. The students have a wonderful and once in a lifetime opportunity to gain experience and exposure for their music, and hopefully everyone involved will have many good memories of the occasion.

What are you most looking forward to about the Proms?

That is difficult as I am so looking forward to everything! But I am most looking forward to hearing the students’ composition with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the atmosphere inside the Royal Albert Hall as I imagine it will be full of positive energy and incredible music and musicians.

What work have you done with the Ten Pieces project?

The young musicians used Gabriel Prokofiev's piece as a stimulus for their own composition. We listened to the piece and looked at the score to give us ideas for structure, scoring and colour.

What was your reaction to being told that your pupils would be performing at the Royal Albert Hall?

Amazing! For the young musicians of Animate this is such an incredible opportunity. To share the stage with such a great orchestra is going to be such a great experience - and of course performing at the Proms is a dream fulfilled! I know they'll do themselves proud.

What are you most looking forward to about the Proms?

The audience! I remember playing my first Proms when I was in the National Youth Orchestra and it was one of the best musical experiences of my life. Every time I perform at the Proms I am amazed at the intimacy of the audience despite them being such a huge number! The energy you feel onstage is unlike any other concert setting - it's totally unique.

*The Animate Orchestra are made up of various schools organised by Music Education Hubs in Lambeth, Lewisham, Royal Greenwich and Southwark.

Well done to all of the students who took part in the Ten Pieces Secondary Creative Response initiative - we hope you enjoyed it! You can now watch them all in our Showcase.