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Manx Youth Orchestra to play for primary schools 20 June 2008 THE Villa Marina Royal Hall will be full to capacity next month when the Manx Youth Orchestra stages a concert for the Island’s primary school pupils. The performance on Monday 14 July will feature the senior wind orchestra, senior strings, intermediate orchestra, intermediate wind and the swing band. The Senior Manx Youth Orchestra is led by Phillippa Bell of Ramsey Grammar School. There will be approximately 100 Youth Orchestra players taking part in the concert. Three professional musicians from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra – Kath Lacy (clarinet), Gethin Jones (cello) and Chris Morley (French horn) – will share conducting duties and play featured solos. This follows the successful exchange concerts staged in Liverpool and the Isle of Man earlier this year to mark Liverpool’s year as City of Culture. Some 19 schools will bring between 30 and 65 pupils each to the concert, which will be compered by Manx Radio presenter Alex Brindley. Education Minister Anne Craine MHK will be the guest of honour at the hour-long concert. Head of the Music Service Graham Kirkland said: The concert will be an ideal opportunity for children, including those who might be learning an instrument or thinking about playing one, to hear live music in the Island’s premier concert venue.’ Meanwhile, hundreds of primary school children are participating in the third biennial primary schools’ concert being staged by the Douglas Buxton Music Trust. Children in Song takes place at the Villa Marina Royal Hall on Saturday 28 June at 7pm. Fourteen primary school choirs, plus the Manx Children’s Choir, will perform, making the concert the biggest so far. School choirs will perform their own items in the first half of the concert and the 400 young voices will then combine for the Island premiere of the musical The King With Cold Feet, written by Alan Simmons, in the second half. That performance will be conducted by Maggie Richardson, faculty team leader for Expressive and Performing Arts at Castle Rushen High School. Choirs have been learning their parts in school and the rehearsal on the afternoon of 28 June will be the first time they sing together. Douglas Buxton was a singing teacher for more than half a century and famously founded the Lon Dhoo Male Voice Choir in 1937 and the Lon Vane Ladies Choir a decade later. The concert is aimed at encouraging young people to continue singing and boost the ranks of adult choirs when they get older. His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor, Vice-Admiral Sir Paul Haddacks, and Lady Haddacks will be the guests of honour at the concert. Tickets, £5 with concessions for the under 12s, are on sale via the Villa Marina Box Office on 694555. More stories >>>
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