'A Child Of Our Time', Chetham's third Education, Outreach and Community project, was created to mark the centenary year of composer Sir Michael Tippett. The theme was adopted from Tippett's oratorio 'A Child of Our Time', the work in which Tippett expressed his response and his conscience about moral and humanitarian issues. As he himself stated "I knew from the first that the work itself had to be anonymous, in order to reach down to the deeper levels of our common humanity. It is as relevant today as it was at the time of its creation in 1939!"
Through the 6 month duration of the project over 1000 primary and secondary school students from the North-West participated in numerous events.
Click here to view the A Child of Our Time brochure online.
Highlights included:
Write here, Write now
A song-writing competition in which the participating schools took to the stage at the Bridgewater Hall to perform their works; Sensory Days in collaboration with Henshaws Society for the Blind, Royal Schools for the Deaf & Communication Disorders and Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy in which participants were able to learn about and understand about the daily challenges faced by those with disabilities.
Above - 'Here I am and I Matter' composed and performed by Moorfield Special School, Preston
Photography Workshops
Photographer and musician Tom Bangbala led Photography Workshops with a group of schools from Oldham where they explored images of people taken by famous photographers over the last seventy years and discussed how they were portrayed. This was followed by the chance to create their own images and have them displayed as part of the Step Up festival at the Bridgewater Hall.
Gospel Workshops
Gospel Workshops for people of all ages were led by Ken Burton. Ken's style made certain everyone involved developed their own gospel style of singing and rhythm as participants clapped, danced and sang in unison despite an age range of about 60 years!
A Child of Our Time
Of course a project based on 'A Child Of Our Time' wouldn't be complete without a full performance of Tippett's great work by Chetham's Symphony Orchestra and Chorus!
