At Westminster, music is an integral part of school life. Over the last decade, the Music Department has sought to develop meaningful and sustained partnerships with local communities, charitable organisations, venues, institutions and individuals in order to provide as many opportunities as possible for both our pupils and those within our wider community to be inspired by and through Music.
In recent years, partnerships have provided additional music teaching and support for young children within London, as well as various larger-scale performances and events. In March, the School returned for its annual concert at The Royal Festival Hall, combining with local state primary and secondary schools to form a massed choir of over 200 pupils in a performance of Bach’s Magnificat. The concert was a wonderful experience, though equally rewarding was the rehearsal process and the collaborative learning that took place throughout the term.
In 2023, the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective was welcomed to the School’s Manoukian Music Centre to give a performance of Carnival of the Animals to pupils from local primary schools. The School also helped to coordinate the Gabrieli Roar Praetorius Concert, an event involving well over 400 children from across London and beyond. Taking place in Westminster Cathedral, young singers performed side by side with the professional musicians of the Gabrieli Consort and Players, and the School was able to provide dinner for 500 hungry musicians back in Little Dean’s Yard in between the rehearsal and the concert.
As part of Westminster’s Volunteering initiative, the Music Department runs sessions for a group of Sixth Form pupils who have chosen this Music participation work as a weekly co-curricular option. The Music Partnerships Coordinator has built a network of experienced workshop leaders to provide training for the pupils in a variety of different settings, including work in primary schools, with people living with dementia, and with neurodivergent children. Following their training, pupils curate and deliver their own music projects largely on Thursday afternoons and occasionally at other times for those unable to commit to this regular timeslot.
Every year, music volunteers join pupils from local primary schools in a series of interactive musical workshops to compose, perform and record an A-side Christmas charity EP entitled Christmas Cheer. Most recently they have workshopped with pupils from Burdett Coutts Primary School and St Mary’s Bryanston Square School to create Golden Star and Christmas Bike, which are both available to stream on YouTube and Spotify. Sixth Form volunteers have also performed in various locations within the Whittington Hospital through the Healthy Generations charity, and have given workshops at the Evelina Children’s Hospital.
For enquiries about music partnerships at Westminster, please contact Mr Jago Thornton, the Music Partnerships Coordinator.
