News and Reviews

News: Oscar Performance for Youth Project
December 2007

A group of 15 young people, music workshop leaders Jo Wills and Guy Wood and ten professional musicians from sinfonia ViVA will perform a programme of original music at Derbyshire County Council's High Peak district youth service 'Oscars' awards evening at New Mills Youth Centre on December 12.

The young people, who all attend Derbyshire County Council's Chapel-en-le-Frith Youth Centre, have been working with the musicians to develop their own compositions which combine rock and classical instruments as part of a pilot project funded by High Peak Borough Council and organised by a partnership of the Council, sinfonia ViVA, Orchestras Live, Derbyshire County Council's youth service and High Peak CVS.

High Peak Arts Development Officer Richard Johnson explained: "This project is the latest in a partnership programme to develop arts activities and events for young people which has ranged from street dance to rap. This group of young people in Chapel-en-le-Frith have shown a particular interest in music and wanted support to develop their work and introduce classical instruments into their compositions. The ViVA musicians have been fantastic with helping them develop their ideas through a number of workshops. It is also wonderful that they will be performing alongside the young people during the Oscars night."

One of the young people taking part is Matt Plummer (16) from Chapel, who added: "We have been working with the musicians on different aspects such as different rhythms and beats and the music has developed into pieces which spans rock, traditional African beats and classical music. It has been really good fun working with the musicians and we are all looking forward to performing our work at the awards evening."

ViVA Education Manager Marianne Quintrell continued: "We work with young people throughout the East Midlands and this has been a wonderful opportunity for our musicians to be involved with helping the young people develop their own ideas and broaden their horizons. We have been particularly impressed by the young people’s dedication and creativity during this project and we hope to further develop this work in the future."

Councillor Bob Janes, Derbyshire County Council's cabinet member for cultural services, said: "Our youth service works with thousands of young people across Derbyshire to help them learn new skills, take part in great leisure activities and even make new friends. This celebration evening will recognise the achievements of our young people in the High Peak and give them a chance to showcase their musical talent."

Media enquiries: Sarah Jenkin-Jones - Tel: 01332 515102/07951 945 665 sarah@jjpublicrelations.co.uk