Showcasing a summer of young talent courtesy of Wigan Music Service

Over 500 pupils in the Wigan borough take part in weekly programmes of ensemble activities, with many aspiring to become members of our award-winning senior bands, orchestras and choirs.

For others, the sheer joy of playing and being a part of a special community of other musicians is their motivation.

Through the Wider Opportunities whole class instrumental programme and traditional small group tuition, 6,000 pupils in the Wigan borough are currently learning to play musical instruments and many more make music through the highly acclaimed vocal strategy and curriculum support work.

Here are just some of the many summer events organised by the music service:

Schools Gala Concert: an annual opportunity for primary and special schools across the borough to attend a live music event at Robin Park Arena.

This year’s interactive concert, was attended by over 2,000 primary-aged children. The concert featured music from the acclaimed Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra, and the Wigan Youth Concert Band in an exciting programme of well-known jazz, rock ’n’ roll and popular music performed by young people from schools and colleges who attend weekly ensemble rehearsals.

Aimed at Key Stage 2 children, the Gala Concert introduced children to a host of foot-tapping, popular musical numbers encompassing styles such as swing, funk, Latin, soul and rock ’n’ roll, spanning 100 years of popular music history. Participating schools received curriculum teaching materials and a singing workshop to help them prepare for the audience participation parts of the concert.

Summer Serenade Concert: Performers from the Junior Concert Band, Youth Concert Band, Saxophone Ensemble, Flute Ensemble, Junior Guitar Ensemble, Youth Guitar Ensemble and Training Jazz Orchestra performed to a packed house at Robin Park Indoor Arena.

Each of these ensembles showcased their work from the summer term.

Wigan Youth Songfest 2024: Students from: The Deanery CE High School and Sixth Form College, RL Hughes Primary School, Shevington High School, St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School, St Mary’s RC High School and Sixth Form College, The Westleigh High School, Wigan Youth Chamber Choir and Wigan Youth Show Choir performed an exciting and uplifting evening of song.

There were individual performances from each of the school choirs along with items from the Music Service Choirs.

The show started and ended with massed items featuring all 200 singers and even included a moment for the audience to join us with the singing.

Wigan Strings Concert at the Royal Northern College of Music: The Junior, Intermediate and Youth Strings ensembles played to a packed Royal Northern College of Music auditorium.

Many of the junior ensemble members were playing only their second concert ever and had been learning for less than a year.

Wigan International Jazz Festival: Both the Wigan Youth Training Jazz Orchestra and Wigan Youth Orchestra played to a packed crowd at the International Jazz Festival.

Wigan’s history of jazz education is well known throughout the country and beyond.

The award winning WYJO has an excellent reputation throughout the country as being an exceptional youth band.

Wigan Youth Orchestra Concert at the RNCM: The WYO was joined by around 25 younger players who are the members of the future and who have been participating in a “side-by-side” rehearsal

project.

The piano soloist (Shostakovich Piano Concerto No2) was the amazing Owen Parr (WYJO) and the organist for Saint-Saens’s Third Symphony was former student Joshua Hales.

At this concert the service presented a new award which we have called ‘The Spirit of Wigan Music Service Award’ in memory of Pete Hales.

The first recipient was Grace Butcher (saxophone) who is off to the Royal College of Music in September and who, service bosses say, has been a “wonderful role model and ambassador” for the music service for so many years.

These feature individuals all speak of the overwhelming impact the work of the Music Service has had on their lives and it is moving to see the representatives from these different “generations” of work all working together with amazing tutors to present a memorable evening of high-quality music.

Wigan Music Service Brass Bands and Percussion Ensembles: Wigan Music Service have three brass bands, Junior, Training and Youth.

These bands enable pupils who are just beginning their music making journey to be challenged at each level of their playing.

The Wigan Youth Brass Band has clocked up many notable achievements over the years.

These include: eleven European concert tours, eleven invitations to the National Festival of Music for Youth, three appearances at the Schools Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, a performance in the millennium year at The Dome and an array of appearances at prestigious events and venues in our own region.

The two Percussion Ensembles both Junior and Youth, played a vast array of instruments from drums to xylophones.

Many of the members of the percussion ensembles then go onto play in many of the other larger ensembles run by the Music Service.

Wigan Young Musician of the Year 2024 at St Wilfrid’s CE Church, Standish: a soloist competition that is run every year in the summer term.

Entries are made through a recorded performance, finalists are selected invited to attend the Grand Final.

There are three categories, entry, intermediate and advanced, the winners of each category are awarded:

Entry – the Barbara O’Neill Memorial Cup, Intermediate – The Jemma Roberts Memorial Shield and Advanced the Brian Yates Memorial Shield.

The standard is extremely high and the overall winners are judged by Keith Orrell and Tom Redmond (Head of Chetham’s School of Music).

The winners this year were, Entry – Kirills Krasovskis - Tuba; Intermediate – Eve Morton – Flute; Advanced - Anna Richmond – Percussion.

Along with all of these concerts, the Music has organised summer courses (rehearsal days) and examiner visits for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, Trinity College of Music, Rock School and London College of Music.

Wigan Youth Brass Band and Concert Band Tour to Belgium and France: And as if this wasn’t enough, the end of term was made extra-special by two of the bands travelling on a European tour to Belgium and France.

The Wigan Youth Brass Band and Wigan Youth Concert Band performed in Ostend and Ypres, along with a short service of remembrance at Tyne Cot and performing at the Menin Gate daily act of remembrance.

Wreaths were laid on behalf of the borough of Wigan.

If you would like to know more about the work of the Wigan Music Service please call the office on 01942 776169.

Why not take opportunity to become a patron? The service’s patrons play a vital role in ensuring that the Music Service can continue to provide outstanding opportunities to children in the Wigan borough.

They help to keep our work affordable to all families in the borough by allowing us to subsidise the true cost of many areas of our extra-curricular provision.

These include Music Centre Ensembles, Instrumental Lessons and Instrument Loan.

Patrons also support the extra special opportunities such as residential courses, concert tours and collaborations with professional musicians.

Readers can pledge their support by clicking on this link: https://forms.office.com/e/euZJaFWZcr