Dear Teachers,
Our theme this year is ‘Stories’, – not just great musical stories, but personal stories
of our featured musicians. Our vocalist Keith Hanley has been writing his own
material, and is very active on Instagram and Spotify under his artist name ‘Hanley’.
His popular release ‘Pinocchio’ ties in well with our Disney music selection. Now in
Transition Year, Rap artist, Tiny, has performed on the Late Late Toy Show, at
Electric Picnic and at Pukkelpop in Belgium. Tiny began his engagement with music
and words through the Kabin Studio in Knocknaheeny. The viral hit of the summer,
‘The Spark’, was a collaboration between young participants (The Kabin Crew aged
9 -12) from the Kabin Studio and young people in Direct Provision in Co. Clare (The
Lisdoonvarna Crew.) Music producer/arranger, Jimmy Brockie, is a first-class
honours graduate from the MTU Cork School Of Music with a B. Mus.degree, and
also holds an MA in Commercial Composition and Performance from MTU. He has
arranged some wonderful songs from musical theatre and film for the orchestra, as
well as some big pop hit tunes.
You will shortly find concert programme website links on www.corkpops.ie , which I
hope you will find useful in preparation for this year’s Cork Pops Orchestra Concerts
for Schools in City Hall, Cork, November 12 th – 15 th at 10am and 12 noon. Feel free
to share with classes/teachers who cannot attend.
I will also shortly upload YouTube links for the classical music pieces on the
programme, and links to the Classroom Resources on our own website for
curriculum-based introductions and performances of other pieces, which are still
relevant to the concert this year. There are currently 8 introductions/performances in
all, featuring music of many different genres; introducing the families of orchestral
instruments; music technology with Rapper GMC (founder of the Kabin Studio) and
DJ Dashka, and our very popular vocalist Keith Hanley. The close-up shots of the
musicians and their instruments are particularly effective.
A special feature on our website this year will be a musical setting of a story by Pat
Ingoldsby, ‘Ivan Biddycup’s Ballet’, written for the Cork Pops Orchestra by Marian
Ingoldsby, who is a lecturer in composition at SETU, Waterford.
The concert series has been running for over 30 years now, always evolving to stay
in touch with the changing times. Our central themes are simple – to makes
connections between the popular music that is enjoyed by our young audiences
today and great classical music of the past; to introduce our audiences to the
acoustic instruments of the orchestra and advances in music technology; to
encourage focussed listening and active audience participation.
I hope you will find the links helpful in preparing for the concert or responding to it
afterwards. The concert can also be thoroughly enjoyed on its own. There is nothing
like live music!
Thank you for your continued support of the Cork Pops Orchestra Concerts for
Schools.
We look forward to seeing you in City Hall in November.
With best wishes,
Evelyn Grant