Kit Marsden // Musician

Tag: sistema

  • Sistema Fiesta: Ten Years Of Sistema In Norwich

    Sistema Fiesta: Ten Years Of Sistema In Norwich

    Kit Marsden

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    In September 2011, I wrote about how proud I was to have joined an El Sistema-inspired music education programme in my home city of Norwich, working with students in inner-city schools teaching orchestral percussion an general musicianship. The project — then called In Harmony Norwich — was one of three trial nucleos setup by the UK government in different cities, and was just entering the third of its three years of funding when I came on board as one of the percussion tutors.

    A lot of change has happened in the years since I joined the programme back in 2011 — including a rebrand as Sistema In Norwich. But the one thing which has always remained the same is the steadfast determination of the programme directors and the team of tutors to bring music education to children who might not otherwise have had those kinds of opportunities available to them.

    This coming Friday 11th October, a performance by Sistema In Norwich students and tutors at the University Of East Anglia In Norwich will celebrate ten years of Sistema’s presence in the city. I feel extremely honoured to have been involved with Sistema In Norwich — in its various guises — for eight of those ten years, and it will be a privilege to walk onstage on Friday evening with my colleagues and students from the Sistema programme to celebrate this landmark anniversary.

    Sistema Fiesta will take a look back over the last ten years, including highlights from the Performance Project (for which the concert is also a finale) and it will look forwards, with new repertoire that will include nods to Venezuela, our carnival work, East Anglia and a big piece from the classical canon.  The concert will feature the Colegate Nucleo Orchestra, alongside children from across the programme, tutors and some special guests.  
     
    The evening will conclude with music from the Sistema in Norwich tutor band, guests and friends. Join in the Sistema party and help us celebrate a programme that is changing lives, as we look forward to another 10 years of making a difference.

    From the NORCA & Sistema In Norwich website

    Please do come down and support this event, and the Sistema In Norwich project. Tickets for the performance are available from the UEA Box Office website, or directly from NORCA & Sistema In Norwich.

  • Sistema In Norwich Performance Project Featured On Sistema Europe Website

    Sistema In Norwich Performance Project Featured On Sistema Europe Website

    Kit Marsden

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    A recent article on the Sistema Europe website has put the spotlight on Sistema In Norwich’s ‘Performance Project’ – a brand new Sistema initiative for 2018-19.

    Over the course of 12 concerts and just under a year and a half, Sistema in Norwich will engage with circus groups, the Norwich-based Vagaband, fellow Sistema-influenced groups and established musicians and composers from across Europe.

    The project also provides the young musicians involved with the chance to compose for a variety of scenarios and formations, with pieces for soloists, ensembles, brass and wind sections all finding their way into the schedule.

    The Sistema Performance Project thus increases Sistema in Norwich’s social impact, provides its students with additional performance time and accelerates their personal development, promoting self-confidence, resilience and leadership – all while building upon Sistema in Norwich’s existing connections both at home and abroad.

    Sistema Europe website

    The circus performance in collaboration with Lost In Translation – which took place in October of last year – was an exciting and innovative project, expanding our students’ horizons and bringing them into contact with other forms and settings of orchestral performance.

    It is always gratifying to gain the recognition of the international Sistema community for our work, and it is an honour to be a part of a global musical movement with the history and pedigree of Sistema.

    And with eight more Performance Project concerts scheduled throughout this year, there’ll be plenty more opportunities to check out the great work of Sistema In Norwich for yourself. Head to the NORCA & Sistema In Norwich website for full details of dates, venues, ticket prices, etc.

  • SEYO And Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar At Teatro Alla Scala

    SEYO And Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar At Teatro Alla Scala

    Kit Marsden

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    At La Scala with SEYO and Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar (photo by Jana Svobodová)
    At La Scala With SEYO And Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar · Jana Svobodová
  • SEYO Photos

    SEYO Photos

    Kit Marsden

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    My photos (edited on the plane home!) from an absolutely amazing time in Milan working with with the Sistema Europe Youth Orchestra.

    SEYO 2015
    SEYO 2015
    SEYO 2015
    Alessandro Cadario Conducting SEYO 2015
    SEYO 2015
    SEYO 2015
    SEYO 2015
    SEYO 2015
    SEYO 2015
    SEYO 2015
    SEYO 2015
    SEYO 2015
    SEYO 2015
    SEYO 2015
    SEYO 2015
    SEYO 2015
    SEYO 2015
    SEYO 2015
    SEYO 2015
    Final SEYO Performance
    Final SEYO Performance
  • SEYO Day 3: Tutti Rehearsals

    SEYO Day 3: Tutti Rehearsals

    Kit Marsden

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    We’ve now been in Milan at the SEYO Summer Camp for three full days (and when I say ‘full’, I really do mean that – they have been three long, intense, full-on, exhausting days!), and it really is a fascinating experience.

    A few things have mainly struck me so far…  The standard of the students participating is very high – in the advanced orchestra, where I am working with the percussion section, we have been able to focus on little details, points of technique, performance advice, and other minutiae, almost right from the start.  The students are all excellent players already, and this makes for very interesting, dynamic sectional rehearsals with a lot of ideas being thrown around and a real rehearsal process being very much in evidence!

    The incredible passion and enthusiasm of all the teaching staff is also plain to see.  Given the number of different countries participating, and the fact that as a team of tutors, many of us had never met each other before and we have just been thrown together from different Sistema-inspired projects across all of Europe (each with their own, slightly different, customs and ways of doing things!), I think we have gelled pretty well.  From my point-of-view, I feel privileged to be working alongside a fantastic percussion tutor in sectionals, and under conductors in full rehearsals who really know what they want from a piece of music and have a vision for the performance.  I think this mix of nationalities and backgrounds is perfect for an experience like this, and means that we (the tutors) end up learning lots too.

    The full Sistema Europe Youth Orchestra playing together for the first time in Teatro degli Arcimboldi
    The full Sistema Europe Youth Orchestra playing together for the first time in Teatro degli Arcimboldi

    Finally, it is abundantly clear what an amazing opportunity this is for all the students who have come on the course!  The chance to learn from some top professionals from all over Europe, and to play big, exciting orchestral music, is enormous.  As is the chance to be inspired by the National Children’s Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela (part of the El Sistema programme, with some children as young as six), performing in the breath-taking setting of La Scala.

    Thanks to the hectic schedule here, this is the first time I’ve been able to post any updates – bar uploading a few iPhone pictures ‘on the fly’! – and I don’t know when I’ll be able to write anything properly about it again.  I shall try to post more details when I get an opportunity, though.  So after another very long day of rehearsals, and with another early start tomorrow morning…  Goodnight!

  • SEYO Day 3: Combined Wind/Brass And Percussion Sectionals

    SEYO Day 3: Combined Wind/Brass And Percussion Sectionals

    Kit Marsden

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    Behind the stage at Teatro degli Arcimboldi
    Behind The Stage At Teatro Degli Arcimboldi
    Massed wind, brass and percussion of the SEYO
    Massed Wind, Brass And Percussion Of The SEYO

    Day three, and we’re all rehearsing onstage in the Teatro degli Arcimboldi this morning, except the strings! They’ll join the rest of us later this afternoon for the first tutti rehearsals.

  • SEYO Day 1: Percussion Sectionals

    SEYO Day 1: Percussion Sectionals

    Kit Marsden

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    Sectional rehearsals in the auditorium
    Sectional Rehearsals In The Auditorium

    Intense first sectional rehearsal in Milan, working on Shostakovich’s Festive Overture (Op. 96).

Kit Marsden // Musician