“At Nord Anglia Education, we are ambitious for our students - we believe there is no limit to what they can achieve. It’s why we are committed to creating unique experiences which spark their creativity and challenge them to achieve more than they imagined.”
Mark Orrow-Whiting, Director of Curriculum and Student Performance
On the 30th March BCB sent six students and two teachers to participate in the first ever Nord Anglia music festival, a perfect example of one of these unique experiences created for musicians to flourish. The week was an exciting opportunity for the young musicians and teachers to collaborate in meaningful ways to prepare the performance presented on Wednesday 3rd April. Visiting musicians from Juilliard led engaging workshops, rehearsals and performances. Nord Anglia schools from all over the Americas were invited to participate and were hosted by North Broward Preparatory School. The students met other Nord Anglia musicians, formed new friendships and grew personally and artistically.
The week was long and exhausting but tremendously exciting for all involved. For many of the students it was the first time they had ever performed with an orchestra, never mind in a world class venue such as the New World Center in Miami. Led by guest conductor Anthony Maiello, five of our students and Mr Araujo performed with the festival orchestra. They performed three challenging pieces which demonstrated the versatility of a full symphony orchestra. This experience taught the students a lot about performing with an ensemble and they now know how it feels to be part of a symphony orchestra.
Ms. Baldwin had the opportunity to perform with the chamber orchestra conducted by Ryan McAdams who led the conducting workshop for the teachers. It has been a while since she performed with an orchestra and this was a wonderful opportunity to play a challenging programme of pieces. One of our students performed with the festival chorus led by renowned conductor Ryan McAdams. They performed a challenging classical programme of music in 5 different languages. This was a challenge for our student who is predominantly pop or musical theatre trained and she rose to the challenge of gaining valuable experience of what it is like to perform in a formal choir. She sang songs in German, French, Latin, English, and Swahili (none of which are her first language). The highlight of the whole concert was watching the final piece which was conducted by a year 13 student demonstrating just what might be expected of future IB diploma students here at BCB.
The week was an awesome opportunity for young musicians across the Americas and we hope that more will participate next year in a festival that is set to grow to include the visual arts, drama, and dance too.
