From June 23rd – June 27th, Manchester Camerata will return to Webster Primary School for another week of songwriting workshops with year 6. This time we will be exploring the theme “Horrors of War” – linked to the curriculum in their studies of World War Two, and designed to help young people use creativity to support their processing and understanding of complex themes.

This project is the latest in a nearly 15-year partnership with the school which uses co-creation as a tool to support young people’s personal, creative, and social development. Throughout the week, pupils will once again collaborate with composer Richard Taylor, as well as a team of our professional orchestral musicians and theatre makers to create and stage original songs exploring the lived realities and experiences of war.

The week will culminate in a performance on Friday 27th June where students share their work with peers, families, and the wider community.

Here’s what one of the year 5 teachers said about our project weeks:

“They love it. A lot of them who are normally quite shy really come out of their shells and I’ve seen a performer in them over the last few days. It’s really nice to see them grow in confidence and being interested in music when they’ve not always shown a great deal of interest in it before!” – Year 5 teacher, Webster Primary School