Armonico Consort’s Encore Appeal is proving to be a remarkable and heartwarming journey. Thanks to your incredible generosity, we have raised the outstanding sum of £219,096 so far towards our target of £300,000. We can hit this target – and our Once in Lifetime Encore Appeal auction on 15 November is a great way to support us!
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A message from Christopher Monks, Artistic Director of Armonico Consort:
Over twenty of our musicians, scholars and patrons took part in this year’s Oz & Armonico’s Bike Challenge which was, by a long way, the most gruelling and difficult. On arriving at each care home, we threw ourselves into the performances, singing to and with the residents and hearing them share their stories. It was especially moving seeing the generational link between our young scholars performing and how their talent so often moved those living with dementia to tears.
We are told time and again by the managers of these care homes that we should not be concerned about the tears which we so often see at performances, as emotions are so important. One lady, who was singing merrily along to her husband, cried after because she could no longer talk properly. She was unable to string two coherent words together – but she just sang ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’ perfectly. We are also told that whilst most will not remember that we came today, they will remember that today was a happy day, and that makes a massive difference to everything from mealtimes to other activities for the rest of the week. The power of music never ceases to astonish me.
If you want to see us in action, please see the ITV News coverage in Wells
Our Once-in-a-lifetime auction takes place on Wednesday 15 November at 8.30pm.
FIND OUT MORE or START BIDDING NOW!
And if nothing catches your eye in our auction, please consider giving a donation
Thank you,
Christopher Monks, Armonico Consort’s Artistic Director
The Encore Appeal funds include Mr Roger Medwell’s generous contribution of 30p for every £1 donated.
APPEAL NEWS
OZ & ARMONICO BIKE CHALLENGE RAISES OUTSTANDING FUNDS FOR THOSE LIVING WITH DEMENTIA
This year’s Oz & Armonico Bike Challenge was part of our Encore Appeal, and we absolutely smashed the target of £20,000 by raising the outstanding sum of £22,086.88! This means we can run new Memory Singers groups for those living with dementia in Solihull, Coventry, and Warwickshire.
Our mini concerts at care homes along the 200-mile Bike Challenge brought music, joy and smiles to residents, staff, family, and friends and we received wonderful feedback from residents and staff.
See the full story in pictures
Our sincere thanks to the following care homes for hosting our mini concerts and for their invaluable support:
- Chestnut Court
- Crandon Springs
- Evendine House
- Hill Ash House
- Latimer Court
- Studley Rose Care Home
- The Hollies Care Centre
OUR FRANCESCO SCARLATTI PROJECT BENEFITS SCHOOLCHILDREN IN SOLIHULL
This October we introduced Solihull children to the music of Italian Baroque composer Francesco Scarlatti. Over 100 children took part in a professional workshop and concert at Windy Arbor Primary School, Chelmsley Wood, forming part of our exciting Forgotten Scarlatti UK tour.
During the event, the children had an opportunity to experience this extraordinary 16-part work. They sang alongside first-class professional musicians and singers. Pupils from Coppice Academy and Valley Primary School also took part and benefitted from a mentoring session with Armonico Consort’s Artistic Director, Christopher Monks. This provided them with the training they needed to fully participate. It was amazing to see them singing so confidently amidst an array of vocal talent.
Take a look at the BBC TV Midlands Today report from Windy Arbor School
“Working with Armonico continues to broaden our children’s horizons. The children are so resilient and not phased by all kinds of music, and in this case Baroque Latin! They continue to amaze us with their ability to learn new repertoire at an incredibly fast pace, and they relish and enjoy every minute!” Rebecca Josephs, Windy Arbor Primary School
All three schools had previously taken part in our Choir Creation Scheme. This clearly demonstrated the impact of the five-week singing workshops and choir leadership training provided by Armonico Consort.
We will be extending our Francesco Scarlatti project to Birmingham and Yeovil, Somerset, in February 2024.
A PARENT’S REFLECTION
Last year Armonico Consort led four workshops at Corley Academy in North Warwickshire. In the workshops, young people with special educational needs developed skills in stagecraft, acting, singing, and pantomime.
They also had the chance to experiment with instruments in supporting them to develop characters, scripts and music for the performance of Jack and the Beanstalk at the Albany Theatre in Coventry. A total of eight special schools took part.
Here is one parent’s reflection on this concert and the value of performing:
“The Jack and the Beanstalk workshops and performance was a fantastic opportunity for our child to develop their confidence and have the opportunity to perform on a stage to an audience. The opportunity to view the performance and see the excited look on our child’s face brought us so much pride. From the props to the music, so much thought had been put into developing the performance for our children to feel comfortable and reflective of their needs.”
FIND OUT ABOUT OUR ONCE IN A LIFETIME ENCORE APPEAL AUCTION or START BIDDING NOW!
Your donation to our Encore Appeal will benefit these vital music projects:
- Creating children’s choirs in deprived areas
- Bringing musical joy to those living with dementia in our communities
- Empowering young people with special educational needs.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
