Long after the audience had gone home, and the music stands had been folded away, the takings were counted. They revealed just £28 in surplus. Not much return for such an exhausting week's work, involving dozens of young musicians and a residential course of serious music-making. However, for founding artistic director David Evans, supported by friends and family, the funds represented an unqualified success.
The year was 1994, and the occasion was the inaugural concert of the National Schools Symphony Orchestra (NSSO), which has grown and flourished in the intervening years, incorporating two additional orchestras, and a newly formed choir. The upcoming 25th season will be celebrated with chamber concerts, NSSO Experience days across the country and an Alumni Weekend at Easter, culminating in a spectacular 400-strong performance at Symphony Hall Birmingham in July, where the NSSO Chorus will make its debut alongside the orchestra in a performance of Verdi's Requiem.
The NSSO's annual highlight is the summer residential course held in the idyllic, (and well-resourced) setting of Malvern College. The course sees around 200 musicians – aged between nine and nineteen years old – participating in a week of sectionals and full orchestral rehearsals, interspersed with walks in the surrounding hills, sports, swimming, and socialising. A rounded educational experience is top priority, with other musical activities such as concerts and masterclasses by visiting artists, jazz nights, chamber music and singing workshops. The intensive single-course format is designed to appeal to those with wide extracurricular tastes, who might be unable to make such a commitment in each school holiday.
The Young NSSO performing
Artistic director John Madden, who succeeded David Evans in 2014, is a passionate advocate for widening participation in classical music. Born in Toxteth into a non-musical family, he has experienced first-hand the transformative effect of a musical education, and wants to extend the same opportunity to as many young people as possible. NSSO offers a range of means-tested bursaries, supported by Malvern College, plus various individuals and trust funds, as well as scholarships for the leader of each orchestra, with dozens of beneficiaries each year.
The organisation is especially vital for students where local and regional provision is lacking, an issue that has become even more urgent in the years since its creation. Continuing cuts to schools’ music budgets and local authority funding, combined with a shift in priorities since the introduction of musical education hubs in 2012, has led to an uneven patchwork of orchestral provision across the country. At the top level, organisations like the National Youth Orchestra and National Children's Orchestra continue to provide excellent opportunities to elite-level students, but there has been an increasing demand for other groups to bridge the gap, enabling a broader range of pupils to participate in serious orchestral music-making. The NSSO is one of a number of organisations that have grown to meet this demand over the years, and their continuing expansion has been vital in keeping pace with the changing needs of the UK's young musicians.
An inclusive audition process sees pupils applying at the end of the calendar year and auditioning in their own schools, to minimise disruption and associated costs. It does necessitate a busy schedule for Madden, who travels around the country to hear each audition in person. A recent project with the London-based Nucleo Project, a social action programme (part of Sistema England), enabled the orchestra to reach an even broader range of participants, leading to a enhanced collaboration for both organisations.
The establishment of Young NSSO in 2011 and NSSO Sinfonia in 2016 has enabled the orchestra to accommodate younger students and widened the ability range, from grade 3 to 8 and beyond. Repertoire is carefully chosen to suit each ensemble, ensuring that each student receives an experience that best fits their own specific musical and educational needs. Having three courses run alongside each other also enables the younger musicians to learn from their more experienced colleagues; players from Young NSSO sit in on a rehearsal of the main orchestra each year, which many of them will eventually join.
Since 2014, NSSO has been owned and managed by Malvern College. While retaining the orchestra's founding ethos and goals, the relationship has expanded NSSO's capabilities. Its smooth running is now ensured by 50 musical and 30 pastoral staff, who have also enabled the foundation of a young conductor's programme, offering opportunities for budding maestros to receive expert tuition and lead informal playthroughs of a Mozart or Beethoven overture. The recently established NSSO Chorus will expand provision to young singers from across the country.
An NSSO rehearsal
International collaborations represent an increasingly important part of the NSSO's future. Having previously worked with musicians from Spain, France, Switzerland and New Zealand, the orchestra will next year welcome Chinese musicians from Guangzhou, with opportunities for cultural exchange and social as well as musical interaction. These collaborations of course present challenges, not least in bridging language barriers, cultural divides, and differences in musical knowledge and training. The international expertise of Malvern College, which runs satellite schools in Hong Kong, mainland China and Egypt, makes the orchestra well-equipped to meet these challenges. Relationships have also been established with Chetham's School of Music in Hong Kong and the British School in Oman, with the long? term goal to develop an International Schools Symphony Orchestra running alongside NSSO.
The next 25 years will undoubtedly bring further changes to youth music provision in the UK. Whatever the future holds, it seems likely that organisations like the NSSO will have a key role to play, ensuring that Britain remains able to offer its young people the chance to develop their passion for orchestral music.
