An orchestra adventure

Over a thousand South Wales youngsters enjoyed the power of a live symphony orchestra thanks to financial support from WPD.

Working in partnership with the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Orchestra Adventure was specially devised to capture the imagination of children and teachers.


Pupils from Shirenewton Primary School near Chepstow (left to right ) Ella Lye, Sam Langdon & Callum Kennedy, are pictured with WPD’s Karen Welch (centre) students from the Royal Welsh College Symphony Orchestra, Conductor, Tianyi Lu, and BBC Radio Three Presenter, Tom Redmond (second from the right).

At Cardiff’s St David’s Hall, pupils attended a performance that combined music, singing and dancing. The event was performed by the Royal Welsh College Symphony Orchestra and presented by Radio Three’s Tom Redmond.

“It was lovely to see the youngsters engaging with the orchestra. Discovery, participation and learning were all at the heart of the project,” said WPD’s Karen Welch.

“We hope that concerts like these will help children to develop skills in listening, cultural awareness and social interaction, as well as inspiring both teachers and students to discover more about music and performing arts.”

Presenter Tom Redmond said: “We performed some of the really well known pieces like Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture - but in bite-sized chunks - combined with dancing, movement and storytelling. The schools learnt a song called Life is a Wonderful Thing which is a brilliant, up-beat, life-affirming kind of song, the children all joined in and they loved it.

“This was also an amazing opportunity for the students performing. This kind of work is vital to any orchestra and to prepare and work on a project like this as a student will hopefully open hearts and minds to the idea of engaging young audiences again.”