In Harmony is England's answer to Venezuela's El Sistema, bringing instrumental learning to young people in deprived areas of the country. Children as young as four will have instrumental lessons and musicianship classes, leading to the formation of children's orchestras.
More importantly, In Harmony aims to nurture children's aspirations, self-esteem, creativity, commitment and teamwork.
Three initial projects have been announced, in London, Liverpool and Norwich. Peter Garden from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic tells us what's in store.
"The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is absolutely committed to more music making for children and young people in Liverpool and Merseyside, and this provides a massive opportunity to get more children learning instruments," says Peter Garden from the RLP, who are leading Liverpool's In Harmony project.
In Harmony couldn't have come at a better time for the RLP. For the last 18 months they have been planning the opening of a new rehearsal centre for the orchestra in West Everton, the community they are now partnering with on In Harmony.
"We've transformed an old church into a rehearsal room, recording centre and community and education venue," says Peter. "We've been talking to West Everton council and local schools about what programmes we could run, so In Harmony coming along at this time is perfect. The rehearsal centre is right next door to the schools where all of the children are going to be drawn from, so we're literally side by side."
The RLP have a long history of taking their musicians into schools, but on this project they will also be working with musicians from the Liverpool Music Support Service and with staff and students of Liverpool Hope University, as well as the resident-led West Everton Community Council and Faith Primary School.
The plan is an ambitious one, to get every child at Faith Primary, 93 in total, playing an instrument. "If this is going to work we felt we had to have a really intensive programme, with every child in the school, linking to early years, and a programme of working with adults. Then we feel we could have a real impact."
Peter believes In Harmony could lead to real social change, if they have the time to do see it through. "We hope to see a shift and a change in the confidence of the children and young people, and the way families are viewing their whole community. But if you're really going to bring about long term social change it definitely needs more than three years. In Venezuela, El Sistema has been going over 30 years. It's going to take some time."
The first step is to recruit an artistic director from within the RLP. "There'll be a whole host of different methods and teaching styles used," says Peter, "so we're bringing in an artistic director to look at repertoire, how everything links up, so we create a holistic music experience with clear direction about what we're trying to achieve."
They are also keen to disseminate the training and learning from the programme across the music service, so that even when the initial funding ends, the beginnings of a longer-term infrastructure are in place.
And there are other ways in which In Harmony is impacting on Faith Primary's future. The school is to get a new building and the RLP have been invited to look at plans for the new school. As Peter says: "Could music be at the heart of the building as well as the fabric of the curriculum?"
It's this integration of music into everyday life that is the ultimate aim. "One of the outcomes that we're looking for is that people in the community have a real connection with the RLP and see music as part of the community, a regular part of life - that music is just something that we do in West Everton."