Make some noise with the family

Monday, 16th June 2008

Make some noise with the family

Families have a great chance to make some music at a Chester Festivals’ Education Programme Family Music Day on 5 July.

The event, taking place from 10.30 am to 3.30 pm on Saturday 5 July at St Mary’s Centre, Chester, is aimed at children and their parents or guardians. Professional musicians from leading chamber orchestra Manchester Camerata will be leading the fun at the event, which is supported by the Bank of America Foundation as part of the Chester Festival’s Education Programme.

And the day has an epic theme with stories and music centered on the mythical tale of Echo and Narcissus,

The Family Music Day will include hands-on workshops where children can make their own instruments and costumes, as well as an exciting percussion workshop where children will get to have a go on a huge range of noisy instruments with Manchester Camerata’s percussionist. Musical ability is not important and the day is most suitable for children aged between seven and 11.

Manchester Camerata musicians and a storyteller will get together with the children to create a soundtrack to Echo and Narcissus’ tragic tale – which will then be performed for the delight of friends and family at 2.30pm.

Tickets cost £3 for children and £5 for adults and are available from the Chester Tourist Information Office or from the Chester Festivals box office on 01244 304618. Places are limited to so make sure you book early to avoid disappointment. Entry to the final performance is free.

For more details about the Family Music Day see  http://www.manchestercamerata.com/media/pdfs/FamilyDayJuly5.pdf

Chester Festivals in association with Manchester Camerata is delivering an exciting series of music-based Learning and Participation events throughout 2008.

Supported by Bank of America, this is a wide-reaching project involving more than 5,000 people through live music-making in schools, community events and web-based activities. For more information visit www.chesterfestivals.co.uk or www.manchestercamerata.com.

ENDS

Editor’s Notes:

Manchester Camerata

Manchester Camerata has been presenting live music for over thirty-five years and has established an enviable reputation as an orchestra which delivers high quality concerts in a refreshingly relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

Based in England's North West, Manchester Camerata is Chamber Orchestra-in-Residence at Manchester's prestigious Bridgewater Hall and presents an annual series here and at the Royal Northern College of Music. The Orchestra gives concerts throughout the Northwest region and beyond; Cheltenham, Sheffield, Leeds, Bradford, Lancaster and Harrogate being some of the places in which it will perform this season. Manchester Camerata also enjoys flourishing residencies in Colne, Crewe, Stafford and Ulverston.

In June 2007 Manchester Camerata became Professional Partner-in-Residence at the Royal Northern College of Music, and the orchestra began using the state of the art rehearsal spaces there. This ground-breaking collaboration between a professional orchestra and an international conservatoire is the first of its kind in Europe.

Chester Festivals Partnership

The Chester Festivals Partnership (CFP) was established in 2007 to guide and manage the strategic growth of the festivals and events sector in Chester.

CFP is an independent organisation, sponsored by Chester City Council and delivered by a number of partnership agencies. The initiative has the full support of all member festivals, of the region's Tourism authority and also the City and Council councils. It provides support and promotion for existing lead festival and event organisers including Chester Summer Music Festival, Chester Literature Festival, Chester Food and Drink Festival, Chester Mystery Plays, Cheshire Year of Gardens 2008 and Chester Performs.

For more information about Chester Festivals please visit www.chesterfestivals.co.uk contact Rosa Corbishley, r.corbishley@visitchesterandcheshire.co.uk

Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy

Building on a long-standing tradition of investing in the communities it serves, Bank of America is in its fourth year of achieving an unprecedented 10-year goal to donate $1.5 billion to charitable organisations engaged in improving the health and vitality of their neighbourhoods.  Funded by Bank of America, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation will grant more than $225 million in 2008 to organisations in the US as well as the UK and Ireland, making the bank the most generous financial institution in the world and the second largest donor of all U.S. corporations in cash contributions.  For more information about Bank of America’s programmes, please visit www.bankofamerica.com/foundation.

Bank of America 

Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk-management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving more than 59 million consumer and small business relationships with more than 6,100 retail banking offices, nearly 18,500 ATMs and award-winning online banking with nearly 25 million active users. Bank of America is the No. 1 overall Small Business Administration (SBA) lender in the United States and the No. 1 SBA lender to minority-owned small businesses. The company serves clients in more than 150 countries and has relationships with 99 percent of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 83 percent of the Fortune Global 500. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.