News and Press

RPO Extra is a podcast series performed and curated by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra offering insights into the people behind the music, information about upcoming concerts, and excerpts from the RPO's extensive back catalogue.

Following successful pilot programmes in summer 2017, RPO Resound and partners the Irene Taylor Trust (ITT) are excited to bring The Lullaby Project to two new residency areas later this year.

The project, devised by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute in the US and brought to the UK by the partners, supports parents in challenging circumstances to write personal lullabies for their children as a way to strengthen the parent-child bond, and to provide a space for emotional catharsis for struggling families. The participants work with RPO musicians to write lyrics and create melodies, and choose the style, tempo and ‘feel’ of their piece before their lullabies are orchestrated by a professional composer, and then performed and recorded by an RPO sextet.

“Lullaby is a remarkable and important project, one which the RPO feel privileged to be a part”, said James Williams, Managing Director. “This project empowers people who are often denied a voice and provides an opportunity to tell their story and to create new ones using the medium of music. That is the power of projects such as Lullaby - working in partnership with community groups, in areas across England, to create something meaningful, honest and sincere for participants and their families”.

In 2019-2020, RPO Resound and ITT will bring The Lullaby Project to refugee and homeless mothers and to incarcerated fathers in Lowestoft, London and Hull. Read more about the launch of this project in 2017. 

In April 2019, the RPO became the second ever British orchestra to visit Kuwait, performing three concerts at the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Center in Kuwait City, and marking 120 years of friendship between the two countries. Alongside these concerts, RPO Resound teamed up with the British Council to run a series of opportunities bringing local students together with RPO musicians to create music, receive coaching and attend open rehearsals.