Wokingham

Classical music is for everybody – that’s the message from Wokingham District Council and Aldworth Philharmonic Orchestra (APO), who held a ‘Creative Carnival’ this week (October 14) to give children a fun introduction to classical music.

APO is an amateur orchestra based in Reading, bringing classical music to a wider audience by encouraging newcomers to sample a live concert for free, and promoting contemporary music through a Young Composers' Award and adventurous programming.

The ‘Creative Carnival’ was a free educational project to give children aged seven to 11 a fun introduction to classical music. The programme involved arts and crafts activities, as well as sessions about the different sections and instruments of the orchestra based around the piece Carnival of the Animals by Saints-Saens.

The day allowed children the chance to explore the different instruments and also to be involved in composing a special 'new animal' piece which was performed in the concert at the end of the Carnival. During the concert children had the opportunity to sit within the orchestra to hear and see the music from a different perspective.

Wokingham District Council assisted in the management of the event, and council chairman Cllr Angus Ross attended on the day. He said: “Now that children and young people have such a wide range of contemporary music to listen to, it can make it more difficult for them to discover classical music. I am delighted that this workshop has brought orchestral music to so many who might otherwise never have had an opportunity to appreciate it. I hope many of them will be inspired to go on and enjoy more classical music in the future, perhaps playing with the APO.”

The APO’s primary aim is to give young amateur musicians the chance to play orchestral music to a high standard, without having to commit to a weekly rehearsal schedule. Instead, APO rehearses intensively for six weekends a year, two for each of their three annual concerts.

Wokingham District Council