Education work lies at the very heart of the Sinfonia’s activities. Many of our regular members are teachers in every educational sphere: in classrooms, as peripatetic teachers, at the Junior Departments of the London music colleges, and privately.
We in the Sinfonia regard education work as absolutely central to our existence. There was a truly alarming statistic quoted recently regarding New York’s Metropolitan Opera, to the effect that the average audience member was 65 years old – and the average was going up by a year, every year. What we in the Sinfonia would like is to appeal to all ages equally, but especially to the young. Classical music is emotionally engaging, it is witty and funny, it is energetic and energising, it is simple to play and it is virtuosic and demanding. Obviously it is not all of these things at the same time – but it is always engaging, and there is nothing more exciting than watching and listening to an orchestra really being put through its paces!
The Sinfonia has been the Associate Orchestra with the Gipsy Hill Federation of Schools since 2013, and recently completed its third major project with the eight schools that currently comprise the Federation. The Sinfonia will be working in partnership with all the Federation’s schools to further increase the children’s access to high quality music education and professional live performances. Not only will members of the orchestra be working with children on projects in school, but the whole school communities will have the opportunity to attend our performances at discounted ticket prices. As well as the education projects, there are also plans for a collaborative performance including some of the GHF students at a venue close to Gipsy Hill.