We are now into Year Three of the Create Yarmouth residency with the BBC Concert Orchestra, with exciting plans to continue broadening the creative engagement with this diverse coastal community.

Connecting effectively with different groups and audiences requires a lot of research, consultation and planning. It takes a good deal of flexibility to develop music activity that has real relevance to, and ownership by, the people involved.

Artistic flexibility is in the BBC Concert Orchestra’s DNA, and something we have harnessed and celebrated throughout Create Yarmouth, with everything from pop-up small-scale performances in the town centre to co-creation with young musicians, creatives and producers, and of course the full-scale orchestral concert held as part of the 2023 BBC Proms.

A recent hot-spot of activity perfectly illustrated this flexibility in partnership working. A BBC Concert Orchestra symphonic brass ensemble held an open rehearsal with a local school group and a coaching session for young brass players through Norfolk Music Hub before giving an evening public concert at St George’s Theatre. On the same day, a different, mixed ensemble performed a lunchtime set at the Tropical Café, one of the vibrant meeting points for the local Portuguese community.

Orchestras Live used separate evaluation models for each activity, on this occasion led by our Data & Administration Assistant, Joana Maia.

Joana takes up the story:

I found the BBC Concert Orchestra ensemble’s performance at the Tropical Café as an invaluable learning curve. One of the aspects that immediately captivated me was that the selection of Portuguese songs played at the event was chosen by the café’s regular customers – most of them part of Great Yarmouth’s expressive Portuguese community.

The set played by the BBC Concert Orchestra, alongside the local Portuguese singer Zara Maia, included innovative approaches to various genres, such as fado, Portuguese folk music, and bossa nova. The event was hosted by the lively circus artist Dulce Duca, who graced everyone with juggling acts involving apples and chairs!

The event started with a modest number of people at the café having lunch, most of whom seemed quite unsure of what to expect. As I stood by the café’s main door, I could see some people reluctantly looking at the ensemble’s set-up and hesitating before entering. However, when the Orchestra started playing the first song the atmosphere immediately changed. I noticed many people’s expressions shifting from puzzled to captivated. This became even more evident when Zara joined the ensemble and people started singing and dancing along.

As a Portuguese speaker, I conducted the evaluation of this event for Orchestras Live by gathering feedback from the audience – mainly through short informal interviews in both Portuguese and English – as the event unfolded.

Having this opportunity was one of the most rewarding experiences since I started working for Orchestras Live. It became clear how meaningful this event was for most of the audience members, who emphasised their need for more events similar to this one. Some exemplified this by referring to their health conditions and by pointing out how they wouldn't feel motivated to leave their houses unless events such as this one gave them a reason to do so.

Another aspect highlighted by the audience was how the event helped them feel a sense of proximity to their home country and their cultural heritage. Some mentioned that the songs brought back childhood memories. Others spoke about how music is a powerful way to foster a sense of community that transcends language and said they valued seeing an English orchestra playing Portuguese music at such a high-quality level.

One of the most challenging aspects of gathering feedback at the café was that a couple of people left their feedback interviews halfway through when the orchestra started playing a song they liked, so they could join the singing and dancing. However, as I reflect on the event, I strongly believe the audience’s immediate and enthusiastic response was another form of positive feedback. Their spontaneous engagement highlighted how deeply the performance resonated with them.

This experience was different from my usual role at Orchestras Live, which typically involves behind-the-scenes administrative work. Being at the Tropical Café and witnessing the audience’s reactions first hand was both gratifying and enlightening. It provided a tangible sense of the impact our projects have on communities. This was a deeply fulfilling experience that I am grateful to have been a part of.

Whilst the two strands of activity were very different in terms of genre and format, they were directly connected in terms of the same incredible artistry by the Concert Orchestra musicians and their enthusiasm to give the best possible experience to the people of Great Yarmouth. We hadn’t expected anyone to attend both performances, but two people from the Tropical Café went straight out and bought tickets to the symphonic brass concert. When asked what they thought of it, they said “It’s all just music, and we love music!”. Without encountering members of the orchestra and having such a joyous experience in their own safe space it’s unlikely they would have taken the leap of faith to attend a formal classical concert.

A key point about all of this, and something of which we are very aware at Orchestras Live, is that genuine community partnerships take a lot of time and effort to develop. It took us two years to find Duca, the right person in the Portuguese community to be an ambassador for our work and to help shape and lead an initial event that would attract local people. After such a positive start we are all so excited about the possibilities to take this further, with a more large-scale event in mind for the autumn as well as closer connections between the various strands of this orchestral residency, and even ideas to make links with the Concert Orchestra’s new partnership with Nottingham and its equally diverse population.

After two and a half years of Create Yarmouth, in some ways, it feels like we are just getting started!