The Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) is crowdfunding support to create a commission for a fantastic new piece of music for strings and percussion to be written specifically for the young musicians who are part of the In Harmony scheme supported by Sistema England.
It will be performed at ISM's annual Conference in Birmingham’s prestigious Adrian Boult Hall in Birmingham on 16 April 2014.
The piece will be composed by Kirsty Devaney, a young composer based locally to Birmingham, and the children performing will be from the Telford and Stoke-on-Trent and Liverpool In Harmony groups. Kirsty has written the first in a series of blogs which can be read here.
Donations can be made at http://bit.ly/ismsistema.
Crowdfunding support
The funding target is £5,000 to cover the cost of commissioning this unique piece of music specifically for children from In Harmony groups, and to put on the concert, giving these children an opportunity to perform in a leading concert hall.
In return for support a range of rewards is on offer, including:
tickets to the World Premiere performance,
having your support linked to particular instruments in the group,
having your name printed in the score and on all other listings for the piece, and
the opportunity to meet the composer, Kirsty Devaney, and world-famous cellist Julian Lloyd Webber (Founder of In Harmony and Chair of Sistema England) at a prestigious dinner event on the evening of the performance.
All funds raised will go towards the piece of music, even if the full target is not met. If a surplus is raised, this will go towards supporting composers writing new music in other projects.
Donations can be made at http://bit.ly/ismsistema, and the link can be shared freely.
More information
In June 2011 the Sistema England charity was established to transform the lives of children, young people and their communities through the power of music making, as part of the international El Sistema movement. The Telford and Stoke-on-Trent project is part of the new group of In Harmony projects; In Harmony Liverpool has been working in West Everton for nearly five years.
ISM has long supported the aims of Sistema England, and we want to bring together our passion for the programme with that for new music, which we have done in several ways (a young composers’ competition, support for New Music 20x12 and New Music Biennial).
We worked with the Royal Philharmonic Society to identify Kirsty Devaney as the composer for this project. Together the ISM, RPS and In Harmony have brought this project so far.