Eight pupils from the same Derbyshire school are celebrating selection as members of national musical organisations.
Places in the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain, the premier symphony orchestra for children, have been offered to seven young musicians from Foremarke Hall, Repton’s Preparatory School. In addition one pupil has also been selected for the National Youth Choir.
Alice Markham (Trumpet) will play in the Under 12 Orchestra and has retained her place from last year. Kiera Cooksey (Bassoon) will play in the U11 Orchestra and her brother Roscoe (Trumpet) along with Megan Prince (Oboe) and Alice Colclough (Oboe) will play in the U10 Orchestra. Success has come early to Jack Bowley (Cello) and Sophia Middleton (Cello) who have been invited to play in the National Training Orchestra for children aged under nine years of age.
Entrance to the prestigious Orchestra is via an audition process with standards incredibly high. All Foremarke pupils were asked to play two contrasting prepared pieces of music to demonstrate the range of their ability. Their sight reading was then tested by them having to play two unseen pieces – one of these is received five minutes before the audition and the other just 30 seconds in advance.
Now their places in the NCO are secured, these talented Foremarke pupils will have the opportunity to play with the best of the musical talent from all over the country. Performances are renowned for their intensity, vivacity and commitment, but above all their professionalism.
There has also been success for Teddy Fluck as he has secured a position in the National Youth Choir who meet twice each year for residential courses. Teddy will now attend these intensive courses; giving him additional opportunities to develop his vocal technique across a wide range of challenging music as well as to gain outstanding performance experiences.
Director of Music at Foremarke Hall, Mrs Susan Bloor, commented: “Everyone at Foremarke Hall is extremely proud to have so many children who have been accepted into these prestigious groups and this is the highest number of successes to date in NCO for the school. Our music department continues to expand with record numbers of children studying instruments with professional staff recruited from all over the UK.”