Noisy Day Out at Bridgewater Hall

The Bridgewater Hall was packed to the rafters with kids from across the North West – all to hear Manchester Camerata play Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6. Children from across Greater Manchester, Stafford and Cumbria, as well as the 14 primary schools that have been taking part in the Songbook of the Earth project, which is a collaboration between Manchester Camerata and the Bridgewater Hall Community Education Trust, experienced the concert. 

The concert meant an early start for the orchestra – well before 9am – to give time for a run through the script with conductor Douglas Boyd and the presenters for the day poet Terry Caffrey, composer Kate Pearson and Camerata musician Helen Quayle.

During the season, the children participating in the Songbook of the Earth project have been getting workshops from Terry and Kate, aimed at firing their imaginations and having fun with words and music.

The idea is to create a new song cycle, which will be performed live on the stage of The Bridgewater Hall on 19th April 2010.  The songs will also be collected together in a special book afterwards. During the show, Manchester Camerata’s music director and conductor Douglas Boyd introduced the music and the orchestra, with Terry, Kate and Helen encouraging a little noisy audience participation along the way.