Maestros play their hearts out on Double Matched Day

WE all need a bit of cheer this year, and local music charity Berkshire Maestros have come up with a fabulous way to make everyone smile. They are planning to see 2020 out in style with an online extravaganza.

Tomorrow (Friday), they will host Play Your Heart Out – an epic 11-hour live event on YouTube (www.youtube.com/ c/bmaestros), featuring a myriad of music and entertainment. The broadcast will involve hundreds of young musicians from across Berkshire, with a mixture of solos, group performances, interviews and some fun moments. There may even be bagpipes – you have been warned.

Berkshire Maestros chief executive

Dawn Wren said: “We want to see 2020 off in a really positive way to celebrate the amazing things our staff and students have achieved this year despite the incredibly challenging circumstances.” Play Your Heart Out will be accessible publicly to everyone from all over the world to tune in and watch.

Berkshire Maestros concerts are usually successful fundraisers that enable them to develop vital music education programmes for children across the county. Play Your Heart Out will be free to watch, with requests for donations towards their latest project, which aims to bring a live band into primary schools across Berkshire. For many children, this will be their first experience of live music.

Greenham Trust is providing £10,000 of match funding grants to Berkshire Maestros on the day which is available to be matched via its fundraising platform The Good Exchange as part of its Double Matched Day initiative. Greenham Trust chief executive Chris Boulton said: “We had so many fantastic applicants this time around that it was difficult to narrow it down to the final

10.

“We know the positive impact of music on children and young people and felt that local charity Berkshire Maestros’ fundraising project fitted very well with our Double Matched Day selection criteria based on the scope of its project and the strength of their fundraising plan. We look forward to working with them on their preparations and on December 11.”

Dawn Wren continued: “We are so proud of the resilience, adaptability and determination we’ve seen from everybody to keep the music playing. Play Your Heart Out will be a fantastic chance for everybody to not only showcase their talents but also celebrate that we CAN do music.”

Follow the event on social media using #BerkshirePYHO to keep up with the news about this special event, and find out more here: https://youtu.be/ vvjhlBCIp2M