A WORLD-class symphony orchestra has spent a week in Cornwall sharing its love of music-making with school pupils, many of them at schools in South East Cornwall.

The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Classic FM’s orchestra in southern England, spent from January 11-19 on a mini residency in which it visited more than 20 locations with a special eight-day programme of creativity, discovery and learning. With 10 professional musicians taking part, the programme saw BSO Bash (percussion) and BSO String Quartet activities being taken to primary and secondary schools including Bishop Cornish School, Saltash, and Duloe Primary School.

Meanwhile BSO Associates – activities where some of the musicians ran training for teachers and music support for pupils – visited primary and secondary schools including St Neot Community Primary School. Also in South East Cornwall, Fourlanesend School near Torpoint, Burraton Community Primary School in Saltash, Trenode CE VA School in Looe and Menheniot Primary School all ‘adopted’ a musician for a day, with in each case the whole school having the opportunity to hear the musician play, to take part in musical activities and to ask questions about orchestras and music.

The BSO Cornwall Mini Residency culminated in an open-access community celebration in Liskeard featuring 50 local musicians aged between seven and 80 performing alongside the professional musicians in a Community Orchestra Day. Those taking part joined forces with musicians from Liskeard’s regular ‘Sounds Vital’ project and together they created a new composition.