Balham students perform at the Royal Festival Hall (From Wandsworth Guardian)
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Balham students perform at the Royal Festival Hall
7:00am Sunday 20th May 2012 in News
Students from a Balham school have added a dash of steel to a special concert at the Royal Festival Hall.
Eight pupils from Chestnut Grove School, performed on steel pans at the Jubilation Concert on May 13, which marked the opening of the British Cultural Olympiad.
The students performed alongside the Philharmonic Orchestra and other young performers who played a variety of instruments, from recorders to claves.
The concert was a celebration of the music of the British composer George Benjamin, who conducted three of his own compositions and two pieces by Ligeti. Katie Ash, head of the school’s performing arts department, said: "The concert has taken up a lot of time for the students with weekly rehearsals with the rehearsal conductor and rehearsals on both weekends before the concert.
"This was a fantastic experience for the steel pan performers as it is highly unusual to find steel pans included in orchestral compositions. They had to learn to read the music and follow the conductor, not an easy thing to do.
"Students should be very proud of themselves and I hope this is the beginning of greater things to come."
