The Music For Youth Schools Prom is one of the musical events I most look forward to each year. More than 3,000 young people from schools all over the UK converge on the Royal Albert Hall in London for a three-night series of concerts that showcase some of the remarkable music that is made in our schools, and the students and teachers that make it happen.
This year’s concert series runs from Monday 9 November to Wednesday 11 November, and on the final night, more than 600 performers will combine in the largest massed performance in the history of the event, a tribute to the late Michael Jackson. More after the jump.
The Rainbow Connection Youth Choir, a group of 24 singers plus featured soloist Jenna Allen from Doncaster, will combine with the Smithybridge Junior Choir, a group of 40 voices, and the Hampshire Massed and Chamber Choirs, a staggering 580 singers, will be accompanied by the Northamptonshire County Big Band in a performance of Earth Song, arranged by Rainbow Connection’s own Paul Mellors.
Paul is the co-founder of Rainbow Connection, a private music school that opened in 2003. He’s delighted that an ensemble from his school is appearing at the Schools Prom this year, having made it through the regional festival, and is even more delighted to be arranging a piece for the concerts.
“I’ve been given the task of arranging this collabaration and getting the arrangement into four minutes while still allowing each group a feature,” he says. “It’s quite something to remember how difficult this task would be without Sibelius. Oh, the days of a scalpel and spray mount!”
Good luck to Paul, to his students, and indeed to everybody who is participating in this year’s Schools Prom. It’s sure to be a wonderful event.
If you’d like to attend the Schools Prom, you can buy tickets online right now.