This Sunday (12 March), Bedford Music Cooperative (BMC) Youth String Orchestra will join forces with the London Celtic Youth Orchestra to perform in the iconic surroundings of Trafalgar Square.
They will take to the main stage in Trafalgar Square for the Mayor of London’s St Patrick’s Festival, sharing the bill with globally famous musicians including Celtic rockers The BibleCode Sundays and Irish accordion maestro, Sharon Shannon.
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, expects 50,000 to attend the annual event which includes a St Patrick’s Day Parade and then all the ‘craic’ you can handle in Trafalgar Square with food, dancing, Irish music and – of course – Guinness.
And although the classically trained musicians at the BMC Youth String Orchestra are more used to performing from the Western classical tradition, the students say it’s been a “joy and wonder” to learn traditional Irish music and new instruments including the button accordion, harp, uilleann pipes and bodhran.
The group recently welcomed the London Celtic Youth Orchestra to a rehearsal at the Bedford Music Cooperative hub at Castle Newnham School on Polhill Avenue.
Georgina Murphy Clifford, co-director of BMC described the social journey of the musicians from the two traditions, saying: ‘It’s been wonderful to see young people meet as strangers, share music together and develop genuine musical friendships that we hope will last a lifetime.
“BMC young musicians are immensely excited to perform in our capital city at such an extraordinary event and represent Bedford Borough on a national stage.
“Although they are a little daunted as this is the largest audience they have ever played to, they are thrilled to receive backstage passes for the event and looking forward to mingling with famous musicians.”
Since its creation in April 2016, Bedford Music Cooperative has steadily grown a reputation for its exemplary provision of youth music ensembles.
So it’s no wonder that Eilish Byrne-Whelehan, director of The London Celtic Youth Orchestra and The Fiddler of London competition invited the BMC Youth String Orchestra to be a part of this high-profile event as a reflection of the ensemble’s success.
Bedford Music Cooperative is the main provider of individual and small-group music tuition in Bedford Borough.
In addition, over 150 young musicians attend their junior and senior music centres on Saturday mornings and Friday evenings.
BMC’s Senior Music Centre ‘Friday Flyers’ rehearse every Friday evening during term time. This encompasses Junior and Senior Bands, Youth Choir, Intermediate String Orchestra and the North Bedfordshire Youth Chamber Orchestra.
Their dedicated string players aged between 9 and 18 years old have been preparing for this event every Friday evening since the end of January.
To prepare for this major performance, Bedford Music Cooperative is inviting the Bedford community to attend their warm-up performance as part of the Bedfordshire Festival of Speech and Drama.
BMC Youth String Orchestra and the London Celtic Youth Orchestra will be performing at the Corn Exchange on Friday (10 March) at 7.30pm.
The programme they will be showcasing in Bedford is what they will be performing in Trafalgar Square. This will include Irish dance, folk songs and excerpts from composer Michael Rooney’s Suite for Traditional Irish Ensemble and String Orchestra: Macalla 1916.
You can find out more about Bedford Music Cooperative at their website here.
