Sharing Musical Skills: Antigua and Barbuda!
Find out about our 2024 trip hereWant to know more about 2025?The Commonwealth Resounds is delighted to share musical experiences with young musicians in Antigua and Barbuda. In collaboration with UK conservatoires and specialist music schools, we have supported the nurturing of young musical talent in the islands of Antigua and Barbuda following the devastating Hurricane Irma in 2017.
In 2019, as part of the Commonwealth’s 70th Anniversary celebrations, we created an exciting new training/skill-sharing programme for young musicians with the High Commissioner of Antigua and Barbuda, the Royal Over-Seas League and the Purcell School for Young Musicians.
During the Pandemic, visits to the island were limited; however, we are delighted to be returning with a new generation of musicians in 2023 – watch this space for updates!
Hurricane Irma hit Antigua
Commonwealth Resounds began their first project
First meeting of Alison Cox MBE & Karen-Mae Hill, High Commissioner of Antigua and Barbuda
The Antigua project starts to take shape
First international musician visits
Go Compose Antigua!
Pandemic online tuition
2020-2023
Return to Antigua planned
2023
The team assembles and begins to plan the first return trip after the pandemic to collaborate with the Antigua and Barbuda Youth Symphony Orchestra (ABYSO)
Project news
Hamish’s Story
Hamish's Journey to Antigua Starts Here
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We are thrilled to share the inspiring story of Hamish’s fundraising challenge to enable him to travel to Antigua to work with the Antiguan Youth Orchestra and learn from their musical cultures.
This is not Hamish’s first event with The Commonwealth Resounds. Hamish first had the opportunity to work with us during a trip to Malta in 2015. He described the experience as:
“The most incredible and fulfilling trip I have ever had. It provided me with a unique insight into music making in other countries and expanding my teaching capabilities in a new and exciting way.”
Now, Hamish is dedicating his time and energy to a fundraising challenge to travel to Antigua and support the Antigua and Barbuda Youth Symphony Orchestra (ABYSO), an organisation that provides music education and performance opportunities for young people in Antigua and Barbuda.
Hamish’s fundraising challenge involves walking 56km in one day, representing each of the Commonwealth countries, and organising flashmobs in London to promote the project further. He hopes to raise awareness and support for The Commonwealth Resounds while achieving his personal goal of learning from the musical cultures of Antigua and supporting ABYSO.
We are inspired by Hamish’s dedication and passion for music education and cultural exchange. The Commonwealth Resounds is proud to support Hamish on this journey and we encourage everyone to take the time to read about the fantastic work we do within the Commonwealth.
If you would like to support Hamish’s fundraising challenge, please visit his GoFundMe page here to donate and for more information.
Training Young Musicians in Antigua and Barbuda
From July 6th-16th, a group of talented young musicians and staff from The Purcell School and Wells Cathedral School will be travelling to Antigua and Barbuda with award-winning musicians from the Royal Over-Seas League to run training programmes with the Antigua and Barbuda Youth Symphony Orchestra.
All the young musicians involved in this programme have outreach leadership experience. Several of them are also members of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.
They will also be running a special programme called ‘Go Compose, Antigua’ for school-aged composers involved in the new pilot training programme for the Commonwealth International Composition Award.
Her Excellency, Karen-Mae Hill, the High Commissioner of Antigua and Barbuda has organised an exciting programme of masterclasses, rehearsals and performances for the visiting musicians.
In January 2019, Alison Cox visited Antigua and Barbuda to promote the new Commonwealth International Composition Award. The High Commissioner worked very hard to ensure that Alison was able to meet and speak to as many key partners in Antigua as possible. She was invited to speak the national radio and TV, including ‘Antigua and Barbuda Today’ with Patrice Martin and Khan Cordice. Also, Alison met His Excellency The Governor-General of Antigua and Barbuda, Sir Rodney Williams and his wife, Lady Williams.
Watch this space for further information about this groundbreaking project.
Go Compose, Antigua!
Antigua!
Go Compose is a 1-day training programme for young composers which was created by the UK’s most well-known new music organisation, Sound and Music and has been run in venues all over the UK for several years. In 2019, The Commonwealth Resounds visited Antigua to deliver a wide variety of musical outreach including several Go Compose sessions for composers on the island.
Go Compose offers the young composers a ‘crash course’ in composition, where in a single day, they are coached by expert composition tutors and professional instrumentalists and enabled to write a short piece of music, which is then rehearsed and recorded. This provides a very positive first experience for young emerging composers.
GO COMPOSE, ANTIGUA! included the following participants:
- Alison Cox, Head of Composition, The Purcell School – Key Tutor
- Khan Cordice, Steelpan Expert, Composer and Director of Music, The Clare School – Associate Key Tutor
- Ka Youn Yoo, Alex Papp and Joshua Mock – Young Composition Assistants
- Jordan Black, Alex Papp, Joshua Mock and Khan Cordice – Performers.
- Young composers Teshanna, Brianna, Erienne, Deniko, Khadijah, Jahfari, Tatyana, Tasheka, Khara and Alliyah
The young composers wrote for four instruments – clarinet, viola, steelpan and cello, some of which were familiar to them and others which were not! There was a lot of lively discussion about combining and notating different musical techniques and special effects. Graphic scores were used by those who wanted to present their music visually in a different way.
All 10 young composers managed to finish their pieces in a single day, by working incredibly hard and making full use of the opportunity.
To close the project, there was a fascinating concert of new pieces written by the young composers during ‘Go Compose, Antigua! on the previous day!
The concert was attended by Their Excellencies the Governor-General of Antigua and Barbuda and the High Commissioner, plus everyone in the ABYSO. Each young composer introduced their own piece before it was played.
The Governor-General and the High Commissioner chose three of the 10 compositions to be performed in the Commonwealth@70 Gala Concert on Sunday July 14th.
Everyone was extremely proud of ALL the young composers for their hard work and achievement.