The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Violinist Nicola Benedetti was accompanied by hundreds of youths, including Rowan Howard, at the Festival of Strings in Dundee. Picture: Steve Macdougall.
Violinist hails ‘astonishing talent’ of young performers in Dundee event
Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti was accompanied by hundreds of youths at the Festival of Strings Dundee.
Big Noise, who recently performed at the V&A opening, played with the worldclass musician and 320 youths from across Scotland for a Super String Orchestra.
The event also marked the first anniversary of Sistema’s Dundeebranch in Douglas, which opened in September 2017.
Dundee musician Michael Marra championed bringing Sistema to the city, and the campaign was carried on by his family and friends after his death in 2012.
The Caird Hall event was the culmination of Super Strings Sessions in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Stirling, led by Ms Benedetti.
Children from Dundee’s Douglas centre sang in the choir.
The Super Strings Sessions are part of a series of events being held across the country to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Sistema Scotland, the charity that runs the Big Noise programme. It uses music tuition to help enrich the lives of children in some of Scotland’s most deprived areas.
Ms Benedetti said: “It has been an absolute privilege working with the Big Noise children as well as hundreds of other young players from right across Scotland in these Super String Sessions.
“The Festival of Strings in Dundee is a culmination of everything the young musicians have learned over the past few weeks and an opportunity for them to demonstrate their astonishing musical talent.
“One of my key objectives in running the sessions was to help the children make a big sound, express themselves and take command of their instrument, and there is no doubt that has been achieved.
“This has been an immense opportunity for me, personally, to give something back to Scotland as part of my work advocating for high quality music education and the impact it can have.
“I have enjoyed every minute of playing and interacting with these children and young people, hearing their thoughts and opinions and being a part of everything that is great about making music together.”
Chris van der Kuyl, chairman of charity Optimistic Sound, which was responsible for campaigning to bring Big Noise to Dundee, said: “Already, after just one year, the Big Noise programme is well established in the community of Douglas and 500 children currently participate in the programme.
“We have seen the transformative effects of the programme on children from other Big Noise centres performing and are thrilled to see children from right across Scotland working with Nicola Benedetti and Big Noise to be part of the artistic and cultural renaissance which Dundee is experiencing.”