Another great weekend in Cumbria with our young composers! We’re in year three of the Cumbria Calling project and every year the group take part in a residential. In February we gathered at the Rosehill Theatre in Whitehaven for two days of workshops. We spent the weekend working on ideas for a new piece of music which will be performed by a Camerata ensemble in a schools concert this July.

Our hard working cohort came up with the idea of creating a piece of music based on a nautical journey: a young boy in the 1700’s is drafted to be  part of the crew on a trade ship, sailing from Whitehaven harbour to the Caribbean, Africa and America. Throughout the piece we hear snippets of music from all of these new cultures and are told the story of the goods the crew collect.

We also had a special guest join us via Skype – James Thomas, Head of Artistic Development and Programming at Manchester Camerata. The young composers had the chance to tap in to James’ expertise and experience about all things concerts, to help them curate the remaining programme for July’s concert.

Two of the young producers, Ombretta and Emma, have been with us since year one of the project. Their skills and confidence to deliver workshops as grown enormously since year one. They reflect on their experience here

This year’s Cumbria Calling ‘Coastal Connections’ project is in partnership with Orchestras Live and Cumbria Music Education Hub.