Later Life and Criminal Justice

Both Skylarks and HMP Warren Hill were delighted to meet Aldeburgh Festival featured artist Alban Gerhardt for the opportunity to watch him perform, and to ask him questions. Both groups were keen to find out more about his career, in particular to work out the cost of his cello! (They were all unsuccessful.) Alban played excerpts from pieces he had played as part of the festival, as well as some of his favourites. A prisoner asked him to play 'the hardest thing you know', a challenge he didn't shy away from.

Group A

June has been a very busy month for Group A with two performances and rehearsals for our very own recording session. Group A Leiston performed two sets at Sax Fest to a large and very enthusiastic crowd in spite of the rainy weather. Group A Lowestoft opened the main stage at First Light Festival in a massed group performance with the Seagull Singers, Rabble Chorus, Lincoln Skins, East Point Academy, Pakefield Primary, Pakefield High and My Choir Rocks. The weather was a bit damp, but the crowd were in high spirits and our re-written rendition of House of the Rising Sun was a hit!

Mini Music

Over June we have run five Mini Music Sessions and have engaged with over 100 families with children under five years old. Sessions have included a variety of musical instruments with help from this year‘s Hesse Students. Families have engaged with guitars, harps, clarinets and even a flute this month. Thanks to the weather, Mini Music families have also enjoyed exploring the garden spaces and we have seen the largest number of new users at these sessions.

Friday Afternoons

In June we were joined by Emily Barden to visit four local primary schools. Students from Reception to Year 6 have been writing songs that will be recorded and released on the Friday Afternoons song bank. Topics of songs include rivers, Macbeth, refugees, and a song called Everyone is Special by Snape Primary which includes the line:

Be brave, be safe, just be yourself

The songs will be recorded in early July by Hackney Children’s Choir and the National Children’s Choir of Great Britain, and then released to access for free in September.

Schools

During the Aldeburgh Festival we were able to host an open rehearsal with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. We had young people from five schools in attendance, ranging from primary age up to GCSE level. They were treated to a pre-rehearsal talk from conductor Ryan Wigglesworth, who very kindly came back into the auditorium during the rehearsal break to answer questions and chat some more to the students. We also had the wonderful privilege of hosting a vocal workshop by soprano Elizabeth Watts with 20 GCSE students from Kesgrave High School. They took inspiration from the Mahler symphony and composed and sung their own psalm during the workshop!

June saw a return to a busy period of school sessions and engagement both at The Red House and Snape Maltings and in school.

Creative Health

This month saw the initial stages of planning on a digital exhibition (film) of Britten’s decline and death, which will be launched in November at a Spark event. It will be in the foyer for any suitable concerts, and ‘toured’ to St Elizabeth hospice. Planning continued with Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research (Anglia Ruskin University) to develop a one-day Spark event bringing music therapists and community musicians together, and also with SWAPra for a retreat in March 2025 for mothers returning to Opera. Angie was asked to be a member Norfolk and Suffolk Culture Board Creative Health, working group to look at taking forward recommendations in the regional creative health report.