KS3 Northgate Musical Connections

Our students from Northgate joined the OAE at the Queen Elizabeth hall for our Fairy Queen: Three Wishes community opera. Joining musicians from Acland Burghley, they became our onstage band to the delight of many parents who came from Ipswich to watch and hear them. In the summer term, they worked with James Redwood and OAE players across two days and performed for other students in the school in an end-of-term celebration.

Musical Connections – Thomas Wolsey and Swiss Cottage

Thomas Wolsey and Swiss Cottage Special Schools are both wonderful places, full of students who love music, staff who nurture them and where every success and achievement is celebrated, however big or small. At the OAE we have had the privilege of working with these students over several years which means we can really connect and each time we visit we can see their development – students know what to expect and each time we can expect more of them as we build bands and create music together.

This year we have been inspired by our Fairy Queen: Three Wishes community opera to create mini operas in our partner special schools, the models of which can then be shared more widely. Under expert direction by composers James Redwood and Raph Clarkson, students from both schools created their own version of the story which was then performed in school to their peers and parents, friends and carers.