During just one day in June 2016, 7 members of the orchestra worked with 118 children, from three primary schools in Sparkbrook, Birmingham, as part of PlayOut! The workshops were extremely active and very, very noisy. The children had the opportunity to sing, to sign, to play instruments and to become musical directors, using simple cue cards.
Two days later, 18 of these children joined the full orchestra at Ingestre Hall, Staffordshire. There, they were offered the opportunity to sit in with the orchestra, create soundscapes based on the tale of Hansel and Gretel and to conduct the orchestra as they performed a prelude of the same name, by Englebert Humperdinck.
There were initial nerves amongst the children upon arrival at Ingestre Hall, but as confidence flourished, so did friendships and the results are clear to see in this film. We hope that you enjoy watching it as much as we did working with these fantastic children.