Between 22 - 24 January, the London Sinfonietta was in residence at St Ignatius College, Enfield for three days of creative workshops, collaborative projects and open rehearsals, leading up to our Southbank Centre concert, Decades.
Students were engaged with world-class contemporary music, with opportunities to compose and learn the inner workings of a professional ensemble.
Here are some of the highlights!
Composition Workshops
Over the three days Year 9 students participated in composition workshops, working with London Sinfonietta musicians and students from The Purcell School for Young Musicians to explore different composition techniques.
The students learnt how to compose for small groups, notation and other non-traditional ways to express their compositions, clapping and rhythmic techniques and how to develop their ideas into finished pieces.
Marketing Workshops
Our marketing team delivered two marketing workshops to Year 9 students. These workshops were designed to help the students understand the fundamentals of marketing, what a marketing job might entail after school, with a focus on the arts and charity organisations. Students were guided to build a campaign poster for an upcoming concert and asked to consider key design elements.
As well as the workshops, the marketing team held a small mentor session with some of the Year 13 students who were looking to enter marketing courses for university. During the session, the students were taken through what makes up a campaign and how they can approach and use their creativity to reach new audiences for their product.
It may not be obvious to you now but the experience has genuinely changed lives. Well done on all that you do. Mary O'Keefe, St Ignatius College Head Teacher
Open Rehearsals
As part of the residency, we opened up one of the rehearsals to the wider Enfield community. Led by conductor Geoffrey Paterson, the ensemble rehearsed Tree Lines by Toru Takemitsu, a piece that featured in our Decades concert. Giving students, families and members of the wider community a behind the scenes look at the work of London Sinfonietta musicians.
Decades
To wrap up the residency, the students joined London Sinfonietta on stage to premiere their composition We Need to Have a Conversation. The students worked on this composition during our May 2023 residency, with workshop leaders Paul Griffiths and Lucy Armstrong.
This piece is about the frustration the students feel with current world leaders and the state of the world. It's about wanting governments to listen and to see the scale of suffering and to start a conversation to change things for the better.
Photos of Decades concert by Julian Guidera.
At first before we went out there I was extremely nervous, but it was the fact that it was something that we wrote ourselves and the purpose of the actual performance is what pushed me to actually perform out there. St Ignatius Student
Published: 31 Jan 2024
