What we've been up to: March 2025
NewsNews Story
Find out what we've been up to recently.
Our Music, Our Way
Our Music, Our Way culminated spectacularly as students from four local schools joined Royal Northern Sinfonia at their concert in Redcar to premiere their original compositions.
Inspired by the theme of journeys, both as explorers and through their own personal experiences, their music brought powerful stories to life.
Performing to a packed audience at Eston Leisure Centre, the young musicians showcased their creative talents as part of a diverse musical programme from RNS. The evening reflected their flourishing connection with their local professional orchestra and joy in community music-making. The appreciative audience, the majority of whom were hearing an orchestra live for the first time, thoroughly enjoyed RNS’ performance.
RNS will be visiting each school in the summer term for a further workshop as we celebrate the achievements this year and consider what we will do next academic year.
The co-created pieces, written with composer Michael Betteridge, will receive additional performances as part of Tees Valley Music Service's Big Sing event this summer, allowing these young musicians to share their musical creations with a wider audience of their peers across Tees Valley.
Barbara Throws a Wobbler
This month we launched our latest collaborative project in partnership with Britten Sinfonia and Peterborough Music Hub, beginning with a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) session for Geoffrey Gets the Jitters.
Inspired by Nadia Shireen’s books, Geoffrey Gets the Jitters and Barbara Throws a Wobbler, the project explores important themes such as anxiety, overcoming challenges, and the value of friendship.
The project unfolds in two phases. The first phase is a concert inspired by Geoffrey Gets the Jitters, presented by Francesca Lobo and performed by a quintet of Britten Sinfonia musicians. The concert will tour Peterborough primary schools, engaging Key Stage 1 pupils and their teachers over five days. Following the schools’ tour, the second phase focuses on a participatory project with four schools involved in the Whole Class Instrumental Teaching (WCIT) pathway. Pupils will use their instruments to compose new musical pieces inspired by the stories to perform in a sharing event later in July.
We are thrilled to bring these themes to life through music, offering children a meaningful opportunity to engage creatively with topics that encourage emotional understanding and resilience.
Giddy Goat
Music in the Round’s Ensemble 360 are delighting audiences across North Yorkshire with a captivating tour of Giddy Goat, a lovely show based on the children’s book.
Families and schools enjoyed the engaging story, brought to life with specially composed music by Music in the Round’s children’s composer-in-residence, Paul Rissman.
Our partners at AMP reached a range of schools across Skipton, Settle, and Whitby, introducing many students to live music for the first time while also reconnecting with schools that have been part of the tour for years.
The CPD session earlier this term enabled teachers to explore the story and learn the songs – Rock Rounders was a clear favourite with the children! It was great to see so many young children enthusiastically enjoying the performances from Ensemble 360.