Since May 2014, RPO Resound has been teaming up with Hull Integrated Community Stroke Service (HICSS) on a pioneering programme using group creative music-making to provide stroke rehabilitation for patients and carers in Hull. Over five months, six RPO musicians and Creative Leader Tim Steiner have been working with patients, carers and HICSS clinical staff to form the RPO STROKEstra, a musical ensemble created by, and for, stroke survivors.
I feel thoroughly privileged to have been part of this highly successful project with RPO resound in Lowestoft. The week quickly evolved into an exploration of local history and nautical adventures which provided the foundation for our musical voyage. We soon found ourselves immersed in sessions of boat-related brainstorming, fishermen’s tales and instrumental challenges!
How do you sum up The Bach Choir in a nutshell? Answer: you can’t. Don’t let the title fool you – this 140-year-old ensemble reaches far beyond the works of Johann Sebastian Bach.
We Are Family – the 1979 hit song – could have been penned for Freddy Kempf and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The relationship between the concert pianist and the Orchestra goes back to 1985 when, aged just eight years old, Kempf made his concerto debut performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.12 in A major, K.414.
