An unsigned article in Thursday’s (8/8) Yorkshire Post (U.K.) reports about the Leeds Orchestra Project, whose inaugural concert is set for next February at Leeds Town Hall. “This fledgling symphony orchestra aims to establish Leeds as an internationally-renowned hub for orchestral musicians by dipping into the deep pool of talent pouring out of our colleges and music academies.” Heading the project are brothers Nick, Richard, and Frank Hallam—a freelance arts consultant, a training and renewables expert, and a lawyer—who all live in Yorkshire. “ ‘The aim is to give eager, young musicians fresh out of college the opportunity to hone their skills as part of a full-time orchestra based in the city,’ says Nick…. ‘We’ll rehearse this orchestra in shopping centres, in schools, in factories and we will take it out to places where they’ve never seen an orchestra before.’ … The city already has the Leeds Symphony Orchestra, which dates back to 1890, not to mention Opera North, Leeds’s only other professional orchestra…. ‘We’re not going to alienate an existing concert-going audience, but also we want to put on concerts where people can bring a beer in and listen to the music,’ says Richard.”
Posted August 9, 2013
