The Foundation The Young Persons Concert Foundation is a unique music charity. Taking an educational programme of live orchestral music into the community, the Foundation helps young people to appreciate and most importantly, enjoy music. Young professional musicians, members of the Foundation’s own Foundation Philharmonic Orchestra, present workshops and full orchestral performances to young audiences, many in special needs schools and schools where musical activities are very limited. Since 1982, the Foundation has taken live music to over 700,000 young people throughout the United Kingdom.
The Foundation was established in 1982, the brainchild of Bill Starling and the late Geoff Love, noted arranger and conductor. Their driving principle was that no child should be deprived of live music merely because they did not have access to it. Their aim was and remains to enhance young people’s understanding of music, by encouraging them to listen to music created by others and to participate in the creation of music themselves.
The Educational Programme
Groups of musicians from the Foundation Philharmonic Orchestra visit schools throughout the country performing series of workshops demonstrating their instruments and developing children’s skills in music, starting with percussion for younger children, leading onto string, woodwind, brass and percussion ensembles for older age groups, which in turn lead on to full orchestral performances with the FPO and, quite often, a celebrity conductor and presenter. Edited pieces rather than full symphonic works make it easier for young people to get the most from the music and make their own contribution – as audiences.
Performance
The FPO has appeared at many outdoor venues including the Henley Festival, Trent Park and Radley College, we have also performed at all the major UK venues, from the Royal Albert hall to Symphony Hall Birmingham; The Royal Naval College, Greenwich (before HRH The Duke of York) and at the Naval Air Station, Yeovilton. World famous artists with whom it has appeared include Sir Paul McCartney, Mark Knopfler, Sir Elton John, Sarah Walker CBE, Sting, Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Henry Kelly and the Huddersfield Choral Society. |
