BENEDETTI FOUNDATION MARCH 2022 “It’s just so, so exciting to see how your Foundation has grown and the commitment from yourselves to removing barriers for all musicians who really want to learn.” – Participant Welcome to our first news update for 2022. It has been wonderful to welcome so many of you to our sessions over the first two months of this year. It’s always such a joy to meet with returning participants and to see so many new faces. Thank you for joining us. We are delighted to share our latest news and highlights with you, as well as a look ahead to what is coming up in the next few months.
BENEDETTI SESSIONS VISIT NORTHERN IRELAND “My daughter had an absolutely amazing time. She came out buzzing and the buzz and confidence is still remaining days later. The time, effort and kindness shown makes such a difference.” – Parent In December, we were thrilled to be able to take the Benedetti Sessions to Antrim, Northern Ireland for the first time. These Sessions were our first Covid-19 postponement from May 2020 and working closely with the team at the Education Authority, we were able to finally bring these to life. It was amazing to meet with young string players and teachers who we have been so fortunate to get to know online over the past two years. For a number of the musicians who took part, ensemble playing only resumed in Northern Ireland in the few weeks prior to our sessions and for many of the beginner orchestra this was their first experience playing in a group. The preparation and level of concentration, focus, dedication and collective achievement was excellent, and we were so proud of everyone who took part. Congratulations to you all. We can’t wait to come and visit you again. We would like to thank the Arts Council Northern Ireland, Lord and Lady Lurgan Charitable Trust, Dorinda, Lady Dunleath Charitable Trust and the Enkalon Foundation for their support of these sessions.
CARDIFF BENEDETTI SESSIONS UPDATE Unfortunately, our Cardiff Sessions scheduled for February had to be postponed due to Storm Eunice which shut down the entire rail network in Wales and left a lot of people without power for several days. We are working hard to reschedule these for later this year and will share the new dates with all those registered as soon as we can It may be possible a few more spaces will be available once the new dates are announced. If you would like to register your interest in receiving information on additional places, please complete the form in the section below.
UPCOMING BENEDETTI SESSIONS: REGISTER YOUR INTEREST As well as visiting Cardiff, we are excited to share that our Benedetti Sessions for 2022 will also take place in Perth (June), Manchester and Glasgow (both December). You can now register your interest in attending via this form below. This does not reserve you a space on the Sessions, but means you will be sent the registration information directly when it becomes available. These Sessions are open to school age string players (violin, viola, cello, double bass) and all instrumental teachers.
REGISTER YOUR INTEREST
IN-PERSON MUSIC SERVICE SESSIONS VISIT DUNDEE AND GLASGOW "She came out with a massive smile on her face, which said it all.” – Parent
Our Music Service Sessions returned to Scotland, first to Dundee where we worked with the young people and teachers of Dundee Music Service, Big Noise Douglas (Sistema Scotland) and The High School of Dundee and then to Glasgow to work with Glasgow, East Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire Music Services and Big Noise Govanhill. It was a joy to meet and work with so many enthusiastic beginner string players and their teachers after such a long period of not being able to bring groups together in Scotland. We strongly believe in collaboration and worked closely with the Music Service Managers and dedicated teachers to design and bring these days to life. Congratulations to everyone who took part. We are looking forward to our next Music Service Sessions in partnership with Norfolk Music Service in May. “It was a fantastic opportunity to play together with people from other schools, of all ages and I’ll treasure that experience! I think many more children should learn an instrument to enjoy that sort of experience.” – Participant, Dundee
Our grateful thanks go to the following Trusts for their support of the Music Service Sessions: The Tay Charitable Trust (Dundee), the Hugh Fraser Foundation (Glasgow) and The William Syson Foundation (2021 Sessions).
2022 AMBASSADOR PROGRAMME LAUNCHED “Since starting as an Ambassador I have begun teaching in Cultural Schools (Kulturskolan), both class music and instrumental music, as well as having started my own private teaching practice. This would not have been possible without the encouragement and support of the foundation and the invaluable learning opportunities from the many tutors whose insight, passion and experience were inspiring!” – Ambassador 2021
At the start of the year we welcomed our new Ambassador cohort for 2022 to the Benedetti Foundation. This year we will work with 127 musicians and educators, age 18-29, the majority of whom are current students or recent graduates. Our Ambassadors have taken part in some initial training sessions including workshop leading, working with young people and teaching general musicianship, as well as meeting with their mentors for the year. We are now looking forward to meeting them all in person at the end of this month at our first Ambassador Day of 2022. Very soon, our new Ambassadors will join the Lead and Senior Lead Ambassadors on our Sessions and we know they are all really looking forward to meeting those of you participating.
VIRTUAL SESSIONS PROGRAMME RETURNS: BUILDING FOUNDATIONS SHORT VIRTUAL SESSIONS “My sons were so happy to see other kids, just like them, playing musical instruments online yesterday! I think these sessions have really helped introduce to them the idea of music as a community, and an activity that can be fun to do with others. As a parent, I am so grateful to you!”– Parent
Our Virtual Sessions returned in February with Building Foundations: Exploring the Physicality and Psychology of Playing. This was a short one-week session which developed on the work of our longer 3week sessions last year. Across the week, we were joined by a series of guest artists including Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Richard O’Neill, Elena Urioste, Laura van der Heijden, Melissa White, Juan-Miguel Hernandez, Alina Ibragimova and Leonard Elschenbroich, as well as our Founder and Artistic Director, Nicky Benedetti. During the Sessions, we explored physical comfort and mindset while playing your instrument, hosted a panel discussion with Nicky, Alina and Leonard and worked with violinist and yogi, Melissa White, on wellbeing for musicians. We also shared a series of Daily Challenge videos from artists including Suzie Collier, Laura and Sarah Ayoub, Nicky Spence, Stuart Skelton, Katherine Bryan and Damien Sneed. The Daily Challenge videos are available to all on our website, and recordings of the sessions can be viewed on catch up by request. VIEW THE DAILY CHALLENGE VIDEOS
CONTACT US FOR CATCH UP RECORDINGS
“The golden moments, for me, were the discussions among Nicola and her two schoolfriend/colleagues. There were so many heart-felt moments, such raw honesty, so deeply felt and so sweet in the laughter, all so extremely helpful in their advice and insights.” – Participant
Thank you to everyone who donated to take part in these sessions. It is thanks to your generosity that we are able to continue to develop our programmes. If you would like to make a donation at any time to support our ongoing programmes, please click the link below. DONATE TO THE BENEDETTI FOUNDATION
LOOKING AHEAD Over the next few months, we are looking forward to launching our new Residency Sessions programme in partnership with 13 Music Services across the UK. This will bring primary school workshops, instrumental and classroom teacher training and instrumental days to thousands of people across the country. We will also be delivering our first 3-week Virtual Sessions of 2022, bringing the Benedetti Sessions to Perth Concert Hall, continuing to develop new resources and online content accessible to all and our Mini Sessions series will return.
NEWS FROM THE BENEDETTI FOUNDATION TEAM We are delighted to introduce to you Shannon-Latoyah Simon who joined our administration team in February. Shannon is a classical guitarist, arts administrator and the person on the other side of our info email! We hope you will join us in welcoming Shannon to the Benedetti Foundation.
KEEP IN TOUCH We always love to hear from you – please do feel free to share your musical experiences with us. You can always email us or share and tag us on social media. We look forward to seeing you all again soon!
“I would like to say a huge thank you for all you have been doing this year! All the sessions were hugely inspirational, helpful and packed with so many wonderful ideas. It served as a source of inspiration and well-needed uplift for my teaching.” – String Teacher Participant The Benedetti Foundation is a Scottish company limited by guarantee with charitable status. Company number: SC636675. Charity number: SC049688