HARDWORKING music and orchestra students at the Prior Pursglove College, Guisborough, have had the opportunity to work with the Royal Northern Sinfonia orchestra this term, taking part in in their Beethoven 2020 Education Project.

The project aims to ask the next generation of conductors and composers: why is Beethoven still relevant today?

Composer Michael Betteridge led the Beethoven workshop. During the session students experimented with Beethoven’s Symphony no. 3 and produce a piece of music in response to the symphony using their own instruments. They also had the opportunity to compose their own pieces of music for the five members of the orchestra to play and work on collaboratively.

The students have been given the opportunity to perform alongside Royal Northern Sinfonia at Middlesbrough Town Hall on Thursday, January 23. They will take to the stage ahead of the orchestra’s concert as part of their 2020 Beethoven Series at the Town Hall.

Mr Betteridge said: “The young musicians at the college are phenomenal, there is so much talent in the room.

“As part of the project we’re engaging with young people exploring Beethoven’s music to create our own version of Beethoven. We’re taking elements of Beethoven’s symphony no. 3 which is one of the most important pieces of classical music.

“It’s a beautiful piece and we are taking elements of that and we are adapting it with the instruments we have got in the room, so we’ve got the accordion and drum kit, which Beethoven wouldn’t have and kind of exploring what Beethoven’s done, and rewriting bits of it, but with that nod to the beautiful music that Beethoven created.

“Beethoven himself was an experimenter so this is something that he would have done.”

Chrissie Slater, Royal Northern Sinfonia Learning Manager, said: “The students are exploring why Beethoven is still relevant today, some already have prior knowledge about him and others are learning about him and his music for the first time today. It is a great opportunity for the students to work first hand with the orchestra, they are all on board with this project and are excited to perform beside the Royal Northern Sinfonia at a concert later this month.”