In our 2017-2018 Season, Music and Dance: Rhythm of Life, we are going to explore musical works rooted in dance. Our programme will range from courtly ballet music to famous orchestral compositions inspired by folk dance, to a brand new commission featuring cutting edge electronic dance music for DJ and orchestra.
Throughout the season we’ll be exploring what young orchestral musicians and young dancers can learn from each other. In the process, we want to open up a complementary art form to our disadvantaged 11-18 year old players, whose cultural horizons are often narrow through no fault of their own.
The National Orchestra for All (NOFA) season will kick off with a four-day residential course at Leeds University in July 2017, culminating in a magnificent concert to an audience of over 3,000 at First Direct Arena in Leeds on 1 August 2017. The programme will be challenging and exciting for our orchestra of young players with a range of musical abilities.
- Copland Dance Suite: a new arrangement by Orchestras for All (OFA) Artistic Programme Manager, Emma Oliver-Trend
- Crossfade, a new commission by London-based producer, Jack McNeill - Crossfade is a piece for orchestra and electronics inspired by the moods and grooves of various styles of electronic dance music. The work is separated into three short movements or ‘tracks’ each linked by common material as if the orchestra has beatmatched and mixed each one into the next. Taking into account typical symphonic structures as well as the structure of a DJ set, Crossfade is an exciting new work that sits between the popular and classical, the instrumental and electronic. It offers a new take on the idea of orchestral music for dance that challenges traditional ideas on the genre as well as contributes to its rich history.
- Swan Lake: an arrangement for NOFA of themes from Tchaikovsky’s best-loved ballet, arranged by Danyal Dhondy, OFA arranger-in-residence
- Spoiteresa: an Emma Oliver-Trend arrangement of a Balkan gypsy dance as performed by Bucharest-based gypsy band Mahala Rai Banda
For the Summer Course concert we will be renewing our partnership with Leeds Community Choir and initiating a new partnership with Sheffield Music Hub Festival Choir. The choir will perform the following pieces as part of the concert:
- Rhythm of Life: Coleman/Fields (a new arrangement for choir and orchestra by Emma Oliver-Trend)
- Electricity: from the musical Billy Elliot (choir only)
