RSNO project inspires creativity in Fife Secondary Schools

Shell sponsored RSNO project inspires creativity in Fife Secondary Schools

Pupils from Inverkeithing and Beath High Schools write and perform original compositions with the RSNO

Secondary School pupils from Inverkeithing and Beath High Schools in Fife have been working on original compositions and will perform their music, which is inspired by Grieg’s Peer Gynt, accompanied by Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) musicians at the newly refurbished Usher Hall, Edinburgh on Friday 29 January 2010 at 6.30pm.

Thanks to support from Shell U.K. Limited, who have been associated with these projects for eight years, RSNO musicians have been working with pupils from both schools over the past two months.  The 13 to 16-year olds have been creating original music inspired by Edvard Grieg’s incidental music to Peer Gynt, Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen’s 1867 play. In addition, poet and author Kenneth C. Steven has been collaborating with the pupils and will be performing a selection of his poetry as part of the final performance on Friday.

The pupils’ performance is open to all concert-goers attending the RSNO’s Peer Gynt and Tchaikovsky 5 concert at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh. Following the schools’ performance the pupils will attend the evening performance by the RSNO, which starts at 7.30pm.  Led by RSNO Assistant Conductor David Danzmayr and featuring American pianist Terrence Wilson, the evening concert includes a performance of Grieg’s Suite No1 from Peer Gynt, as well as Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No5 and the UK première of Michael Daugherty’s piano concerto, Deux ex machina.

Alex Baird, Plant Installation Manager at Shell's Fife Natural Gas Liquids Plant at Mossmorran near Cowdenbeath welcomed the project:  “Shell are delighted to once again sponsor the RSNO and be able to give the pupils from Beath and Inverkeithing the chance to work with talented musicians and have an opportunity to play in Edinburgh’s Usher Hall.”

RSNO Viola Lisa Rourke, the lead musician involved with the project, said:

 “These workshops have been hugely enjoyable but they also provide a valuable insight into the process of taking inspiration and using it to create something new.  The resultant creative output was borne from a framework of ideas based on Grieg’s opera and Ibsen’s dramatic story.  Musical abilities vary throughout the group but the creative process is something which everyone can participate in.  For the pupils this is a unique opportunity to perform in the newly refurbished venue and for many it will be the first time they will have heard a symphony orchestra live.”

Both the schools project and the RSNO’s concert in Edinburgh are supported by Shell U.K. Limited. 

For further information please contact Daniel Pollitt, Communications Manager on 0141 225 3571, Email: [email protected]