Now LSO Discovery, the education/community programme of the London Symphony Orchestra has a new head, Philip Flood, and the optimism and excitement are still building. Peter Baker asked Philip about developments including the new DCSF-funded Future Partnerships Programme.

What has been most exciting has been the significant growth at LSO St Lukes in education and community work. The London Symphony Orchestra is now firmly embedded in the local community and across the city. The Gamelan group is commissioning new music; the 80-strong Youth Choir and 120-strong Community Choir are flourishing under Gareth Malone. There is a very active family programme, including Saturday sessions working with parents, carers and under-5s and engaging fully with the music programming at the Barbican. This is the fifth year of the LSO St Luke’s Academy which has had a week’s summer school for talented brass players.

So there are now four main programmes:

• Community work in and around St Luke’s with the Gamelan, choirs and other activities including developing ‘urban music’ using music technology.
• Education work with schools in Islington and across East London and adult education and Life Long Learning activities.
• Developing young talent, which is at the heart of our new Future Partnerships programme, with which we engage with young instrumentalists of the future through a range of activities for players of every ability.
• At post-graduate level, the LSO’s distinguished conductor Valery Gergiev is running conducting master classes. We also have the Panufnik Young Composers Scheme where six emerging composers are chosen to create short new works for the orchestra. Our new commissioning scheme, UBS Soundscapes: Pioneers, will commission three works every season for the next three years.

Lastly, there is the digital programme which underpins everything we do. We use our interactive digital network including video conferencing to transform what happens locally for the benefit of the wider national and international community. 

The digital programme includes masterclasses, artists’ interviews, teaching children in primary schools, and career days where potential players of the future can talk to orchestra members thereby gaining invaluable direct access to the LSO.

The orchestra is now completely engaged with the programmes. Members of the orchestra take part in school and family events. At least three-quarters of the orchestra take part in other activities and some prioritise the work as their main interest, so much so that we have invested substantially in player training to work successfully in these areas.

Music education has changed from concentrating on exploring repertoire to instrumental tuition so the members of the LSO provide a considerable value-added experience.  LSO On Track works with the 10 East London music services and offers a tremendous opportunity for partnerships to build on what the music services are doing and engage with young players in a number of activities to enable them to join up the dots of music learning.

The Future Partnerships Programme has four main strands:

• Celebrate and Inspire Concerts – three at St Luke’s and three at the Barbican in which young players sit alongside players from the LSO with prior workshops in schools.
• Projects in the Boroughs – including informal LSO concerts, a fusion orchestra to develop improvisation and creative work to improve ensemble playing. The Boroughs are all at different levels of development and the challenge for the LSO is to actively engage with those communities in a meaningful musical experience.
• Developing and Nurturing Young Talent – in which LSO On Track will work with 50 gifted players, 5 from each Borough over the next four years. They will attend concerts and rehearsals; have mentors from the orchestra; develop ensemble playing; and learn the progress routes through to perhaps even music college to joining orchestras in the future.
• We have a comprehensive programme of Continuing Professional Development and support, initially developed in Hackney through a modular programme of work to enable non-specialist teachers at Key Stage 2 to be able to deliver music successfully to their children. Over the next year, we will be rolling this out across East London and hope to engage with over 100 teachers. We hold concerts at the Barbican specifically for each Key Stage with prior workshops for teachers including player visits to each school so they can prepare the children for the concert. The Barbican will also host a world music event whilst we will link up with the Guildhall School to give young jazz and rock musicians the chance to play on the Barbican stage.

In April 2009, we shall have a masterclass project with Lang Lang and 100 young pianists from East London and students from the Guildhall. Again, we shall be able to transmit these events widely using our digital technology.

We are strategically focusing on East London where we very much see LSO St Lukes as a musical hub, a real centre of excellence for music making with road shows in the Boroughs and at the Barbican linked to the LSO repertoire. The London University Institute of Education will be evaluating the work of our projects and exploring the relationships between the orchestra and the music services, and the communities of the Boroughs. These projects are not one-offs but their impact will be measured in 10–15 years and should give us a significant insight into what makes best practice in music education.