Lambeth (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Lambeth Town Hall hosts an immersive orchestral experience featuring young local musicians alongside Europe’s first majority black orchestra, this weekend.
The Chineke will be the most recent in a string of architectural performances by the production firm Aswarm! On Saturday afternoon, the orchestra performs a number of brief renditions of the Othello Suite by Samuel Coleridge Taylor.
Four exceptionally talented young violinists, ages 13 to 16, from Lambeth Music Service’s training orchestras, will join the performers from the esteemed ensemble.
A music service spokesperson said:
“The opportunity to perform with other people gives you loads of skills.
Just being aware of being in that space, confidence for performing, and socially it’s great, because it helps people just relax in that environment, and they become used to doing it.
A very key thing is to work in this kind of mentee-mentoring way. It just gives people that extra confidence.”
Orchestra members will be playing in various rooms throughout the building, and ticket holders will be free to roam around during each of the four 30-minute concerts.
The 25-year-old Enyi Okpara will conduct the instrumentalists, and monitors across the building will see her picture via video link.
This will be Okpara’s first time performing live, he recalled, although he had worked on projects during the COVID-19 epidemic that needed him to piece together separate musical elements to create an orchestral effect.
He said:
“I’m just curious to see how it works.
It’s kind of exciting to be in a process where there are a few unknowns, and being able to experiment with what you hear sound-wise is quite a nice thing to do.”
Anglo-African composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor composed the Othello Suite for the His Majesty’s Theatre’s 1912 staging of Shakespeare’s tragedy.
According to Okpara, there is something for everyone in the suite, which strikes a good balance between poetry, energy, and gritty elements.
He continued by highlighting the fact that an orchestra’s primary function is to serve the local populace.
Okpara said:
“There’s a reason why the London Symphony Orchestra is called the London Symphony Orchestra.
Fundamentally, orchestras are about serving communities and bringing music into the lives of community members.”
Half of the tickets for the concert, which has sold out, were given to Lambeth locals because the partnership was developed with the borough’s citizens at its core.
A council spokesperson said:
“It will promote the Town Hall as a welcoming, creative, civic space and provide an opportunity to increase footfall and engage with Lambeth’s community.”
What role do the young musicians from Lambeth play in the event?
Professional players from Chinake!, Europe’s first majority Black orchestra, will join four very talented teenage violinists, ages 13 to 16, from Lambeth Music Service’s training orchestras. They gain priceless experience in a work environment via this partnership.
Working closely with seasoned experts, the young musicians build skills and confidence through a “mentee-mentoring” concept. Their technical skills and stage presence both improve as a result of this method.
Their involvement demonstrates the talent that Lambeth Music Service fosters and the borough’s dedication to helping up-and-coming musicians and giving them chances to perform on important stages.
The young musicians’ performances at this immersive event combine professional artistry with youthful vitality to create a one-of-a-kind cultural experience for the local community.
