Commonwealth Festival Orchestra

13th May 2014 | 0 comments

In 2007, the Kampala Music School partnered with international musicians from The Commonwealth Resounds! to form the first-ever Commonwealth Festival Orchestra! This enabled musicians from different countries to perform side-by-side and with the help of Ugandan church choirs, perform Mozart’s Requiem for a large, appreciative congregation in Namirembe Cathedral, Kampala.

The orchestra was formed again for CHOGM 2009, when it was featured in a Gala Performance sponsored jointly by the Trinidad Government and the T&T Entertainment Company. A new piece was written for the orchestra by young composer Lloyd Coleman, who conducted it himself.

In 2013, the Commonwealth Festival Orchestra regrouped to give a memorable performance in Westminster Abbey as part of Commonwealth Observance Day. Young composer Toby Hession’s new piece ‘Paraphrase on the National Anthem of Sri Lanka’ was specially commissioned for this occasion. The orchestra performed musical items by Purcell, Handel and Vaughan Williams which were also played at the 1953 Coronation.

For CHOGM 2013, a large group of international musicians from The Commonwealth Resounds! have been hosted by the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka (SOSL) and combined to form a much bigger cross-cultural ensemble. All players will share skills and support one another. Professionals will coach self-taught players. The musical programme includes works that SOSL would never normally contemplate, and a specially composed fanfare by young composer Alan Mofti.

The Commonwealth Resounds! and the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka are both very proud of the collaborative example demonstrated by the Commonwealth Festival Orchestra, and believe that this is an inexpensive and highly effective way to help and support developing orchestras in different countries.

CHOGM 2013 in Sri Lanka

13th April 2014 | 0 comments

Musicians from all over the Commonwealth are beginning to get very excited about CHOGM 2013 in Sri Lanka! The Commonwealth Resounds will be doing everything possible to help bring musicians together in Sri Lanka to share ideas, develop their musical skills, perform, run workshops and seminars and collaborate in different ways with the Sri Lankan community. The programme will run in Sri Lanka between November 8th – 18th 2013.

Commonwealth musicians are warmly invited to contact Alison Cox and let her know if they would like to become part of this unique project. Alison will do her best to encourage and support them in their fundraising efforts, and create opportunities for them in Sri Lanka.

At present, the 2013 programme features the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka, three excellent musicians from the Royal Over-Seas League, representatives from EXAUDI and Songbound, a large number of young musicians and staff from The Purcell School and Chethams School of Music, students from the Royal Academy of Music, and young professional musicians from Malta, Canada, Uganda and Australia. We are hoping to attract other groups of Commonwealth musicians to join the programme as well.

More information about The Commonwealth Resounds! in Sri Lanka will be published shortly…

Songbound

13th March 2014 | 0 comments

The Commonwealth Resounds! is proud to be working in partnership with Joe Walters and his charity, Songbound, a music outreach initiative that uses singing to reach out to India’s most impoverished children via collaborative projects with schools, choirs and professional musicians worldwide.

Young musicians from The Purcell School have made ‘Songbound’ their special focus for charitable fundraising in 2012/13. They are hoping to work with Joe Walters and choral trainers in Sri Lanka to spread the benefits of this excellent programme into new communities.

During CHOGM 2013, there will be a very special, important role for Songbound, and brilliant young singers and instrumentalists from The Commonwealth Resounds! will be travelling to Sri Lanka to try and help bring this about.

Ravi Shankar

13th February 2014 | 0 comments

The Commonwealth Resounds! is deeply saddened to hear about the death of Ravi Shankar, our much-loved and greatly valued patron. Our thoughts are with his family at this time, and his musical inspiration and achievements will be long remembered.

Honour for The Commonwealth Resounds! Director Alison Cox

31st October 2013 | 0 comments

“I feel absolutely delighted and very surprised to have been awarded an OBE in the Queen’s 2012 Birthday Honours for my community work in the UK and overseas.

In my opinion, this could not have happened without the hard inspirational work from thousands of musicians of all ages and from all walks of life with whom I have been lucky enough to work over the years. I should like to sincerely thank everybody involved”