Since Musicate was employed two years ago by the Borough of
Telford and Wrekin to deliver the Telford Music Enhancement Pilot
Project, over 2500
young people have been in
contact with Musicate professional musicians and participated in
music making activities from African drumming and Gospel singing
through to clarinet lessons and interactive taster
sessions.
To celebrate the diversity
and enriched musical lives of all of these children Musicate
commissioned composer Iain
Masson
(www.iainmasson.com) to
write a piece that brought together all of the variety of activites
into one performance at the Oakengates Theatre.
Evolutions was premiered
to a capacity audience on Wednesday 29 March 2006 at the Oakengates
Theatre in the presence of the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of
Telford, and the performance received great acclaim from parents,
teachers, headteachers and members of the L.E.A.
The piece signified a journey of musical exploration and an
evolution into a new and colourful musical future for the young
people in Telford & Wrekin. The piece featured the
talents of the children learning from Musicate musicians and the
playing of the Musicate ensemble, an ensemble created from the
staff of Musicate with both groups performing together
throughout.
The
piece was by far the most ambitious Musicate commission to date and
was unique in the way it brought together music from different
parts of the world, singing, instrumentalists and
percussionists.