Children & Arts awards £15,000 worth of musical instruments to UK school children

Posted 13th July 2009 11:30am by Alison Duguid

The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts, Classic FM and Yamaha Music UK are delighted to announce the winner and regional runners up of their MusicQuest competition 2008/09 run alongside their project MusicQuest, designed to bring classical music to life for children.

The competition was open to the 80 schools involved in MusicQuest 2008/09 and explored the children’s creativity and compositional skills.

Judges of the competition included Kevin Hathaway co-principal percussionist with the Philharmonia Orchestra since 1979 and MusicQuest Conductor and Classic FM presenter Nick Bailey.

First prize has been awarded to Pentland Primary School in Billingham, for their composition entitled Pentland Pyrotechnics. As the winning entry, their composition will be performed by the Northern Sinfonia at the Classic FM Live concert at The Royal Albert Hall on 24th September 2009. They will also receive £10,000 worth of musical instruments supplied by Yamaha Music UK.

The regional runners up, who will each receive £1,000 worth of musical instruments, are:

Ochiltree Primary School (Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire)
St Gerard’s Primary School (Middlesbrough)
Greenways Primary School (Stoke on Trent)
Newhall Park Primary School (Bradford)
Stradbroke Primary School (Lowestoft).

Su Price, Musical Coordinator at Pentland Primary School said: "We wanted to introduce pupils to classical music in an accessible way. Taking part in MusicQuest gave us the perfect opportunity. The children are so proud of it and really enjoyed the experience."

Kevin Hathaway, Co-Percussionist at the Philharmonia Orchestra and MusicQuest Conductor said of the winning entry: "Well done everyone and let this be a springboard for lots more musical projects".