28/03/2007
Schools from the London borough of Merton will join professional musicians and actors to stage a spectacular concert at the Royal Albert Hall on Monday 23 April 2007.
This prestigious event, which is organised by the Merton Music Foundation, has proved to be a huge success since it was first staged at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon in 2004. Now in its third year, Music is for Life moves to the Royal Albert Hall, where more than 1400 young people will perform in a dazzling selection of music from around the world.
One thousand 7 to 11-year-olds from Merton primary schools will sing Drop in the Ocean and listen to performances by the award-winning Merton Youth Jazz Orchestra and the Merton Youth Concert Band. Samba will be supplied by secondary pupils working with the London School of Samba. There'll also be a 180-strong massed band drawn from the Foundation's three concert bands.
A jazz oratorio for a massed primary schools choir, big band and strings – Pete Churchill's epic David and Goliath – will feature the internationally acclaimed Stan Sulzmann on saxophone. Also involved are actor/singers Gary Bryden and Paul Medford, and musicians from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Merton Music Foundation is a registered charity. The Albert Hall concert has additional support from the DfES and the London Borough of Merton as part of its music development strategy for primary schools. Music is for Life is one of the Foundation's key pledges against the aims of the Music Manifesto and has involved children and teachers from 24 Merton primary schools in the development of singing during the 2006-2007 academic year.
Tickets for the event are available from the Merton Music Foundation or from the Royal Albert Hall Box Office
Find out more about the Merton Music Foundation at: www.mmf.org.uk