BBC's Ten Pieces extends classical music programme to teenagers
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Version 0 of 1. The Ride of the Valkyries, the most famous part of Wagner’s Ring cycle, is to be used as part of a nationwide programme to encourage teenagers to fall in love with classical music. Once used to devastating effect as the soundtrack to a helicopter attack on a Vietnamese village in the 1979 film Apocalypse Now, the Ride of the Valkyries will be blasted out in the school halls and classrooms of the UK’s secondary schools. It is one of the BBC’s Ten Pieces programme, which last year attempted to introduce a generation of primary school children to classical music, and this year will be extended to pupils in secondary schools. The programme also includes Verdi (Dies Irae and Tuba Mirum from Requiem); Bizet’s Carmen (Habanera and Toreador Song); Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto; Shostakovich’s Symphony No 10; and Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Bringing the line-up more up to date is Mambo from Bernstein’s West Side Story and Night Ferry by the contemporary British-born composer Anna Clyne, whose work was premiered by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2012. The BBC Philharmonic will feature in a new film featuring all 10 pieces of music, which will be shot by music video director Nick Wickham – who has previously worked with stars such as Rihanna, Katy Perry and Madonna – and shown in cinemas in October. Schools can access online resources to extend their music studies, and there will be live performances across the country, culminating in the BBC Proms in July, when the BBC National Orchestra of Wales will perform all 10 pieces alongside creative responses from children who have studied them. Related: Nicky Morgan, please give us the money to teach British kids classical music | James Rhodes The initiative comes amid calls for classical music education in schools to be better funded and concerns about how to get young people interested in the classical repertoire. Last year, children at more than half of UK primary schools had access to the Ten Pieces programme, which is intended to be a creative springboard for the children’s own artistic talents. Artists including violinist Nicola Benedetti, cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, singer and presenter Cerys Matthews, trumpeter Alison Balsom and musician, producer and composer Nitin Sawhney will work with children across the country as ambassadors for the project. Sawhney said: “Children need to challenge their imaginations and a formal education in the arts instils children with confidence and an ability to learn through intuition as well as intellect. A formal education in the arts instils children with confidence “It empowers children to understand their own identity and emotions. I hope that through my participation in this wonderful project I could somehow contribute to that journey and process.” Alan Davey, controller of BBC Radio 3, said: “Finding ways to allow young people to discover the joys of classical music is something that many of us in the music world are concerned about, and the BBC has a key role to play. “Ten Pieces is a staggering example of the power of the BBC working in partnership across the classical music world to introduce a generation of children to what classical music can offer.” |