Find out what we've been up to recently.

Essex Vibrations

We’ve been working with D/deaf students from four schools in Colchester and Chelmsford to create their own original music to be performed alongside musicians from Sinfonia Viva.

Led by composer James Redwood and Ruth Montgomery, the project has included a taster session and two creative workshops filled with various activities, all building towards a celebratory culmination performance in Chelmsford this November. Students will share their work with classmates, teachers, friends, and family!

Following the performance, a set of resources will be created for other young people to enjoy. These will include audio tracks and BSL-interpreted videos to better support other schools' music education for their D/deaf students.

Create Yarmouth

In late September, the BBC Concert Orchestra visited nine schools in Great Yarmouth as part of their Ten Pieces Schools Tour, an educational initiative designed to introduce 7–14-year-olds to classical music.

The concerts formed part of our Create Yarmouth programme, now in its fourth year, which inspires young people through music events, skills development, and creative projects.

A concert highlight for the young people, alongside the adults in the room, was Laura Shigihara’s Grasswalk from the game Plants vs Zombies which gave everyone a chance to conduct the BBC Concert Orchestra as they played!

Able Orchestra

Spring Awakened is a co-created composition born from ongoing collaboration between Able Orchestra Pioneers and Orchestra of the Swan. Co-produced with our partners at Inspire Youth Arts, the project began in February 2025 with a series of workshops, culminating in a live performance of the new work at Nottingham Contemporary in April.

Throughout February and March, Able Orchestra Pioneers and Orchestra of the Swan, supported by Dyskinetic, embarked on a musical journey to explore how to blend digital instrumental and compositional tools such as CMPSR and MiMu gloves with classical and folk string instruments and voice. Together, they set out to challenge and expand existing co-composition processes and creative outcomes.

As a celebration of the Arts Council-funded project, Able Orchestra Pioneers and Orchestra of the Swan will perform Spring Awakened for the second time in public in November at the Fletchers Theatre in Nottingham.