Wandsworth Celebrates Music with a Summer of School Outreach and Community Engagement

After an outstanding inaugural year in 2023 Battersea Park in Concert returns this August Bank Holiday weekend for another wonderful showcase of musical genres across classical, West End & jazz music.

The world-class Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra returns, led by the talented Pete Harrison and Richard Balcombe. Pete will guide the orchestra through classical masterpieces, while Richard takes us on a journey through musical theatre with his sweeping arrangements. The top UK jazz talents from Ronnie Scott's are back too. New additions include Myleene Klass hosting Proms in the Park and Cassidy Janson leading a West End showcase, promises a stunning weekend of music. But the thrill of live music isn’t contained to the event – all summer, a special series of creative learning opportunities have been taking place for children in Wandsworth, all based around the orchestral, soul, and jazz music that is being performed at Battersea Park In Concert.

Wandsworth Borough Council and Enable have worked with RPO Resound, the Community and Education branch of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to facilitate workshops across five local primary schools. For 30 years, RPO Resound has been at the forefront of using music-making to enrich the lives of people in communities across the UK and internationally.  The Wandsworth schools chosen were selected as those that may have less resource for music making or instrument lessons and/or those with high proportions of children receiving free school meals. Musicians from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra have personally composed music with these children so they can benefit from experiencing these artforms in depth. Up to 600 young people participated across the various workshops.

RPO Resound spent the early summer visiting St George’s, Sacred Heart, St Mary’s RC, Christ Church, and Falconbrook Primary Schools. Led by musician and educational facilitator Omar Shahryar alongside musicians Sali-Wyn Ryan, RPO Second Violin, Josh Cirtina, RPO Principal Bass Trombone.

The workshops helped the children to learn about classical music and instruments, while they created their own pieces inspired by some of Battersea Park in Concert’s Proms in the Park repertoire. The children were able to harness their creativity and composition skills, and had the opportunity to perform their pieces to classes from other schools in group sessions. In addition, workshops were held at Wandsworth’s Big Play Out summer holiday programme, where children were invited to join a 45-minute-long workshop entitled 'take to the stage' to explore dance, singing and drama through some of the musical numbers that will be performed on stage at In Concert. Children will be invited to take part in a craft session, taking inspiration from West End Musicals to create a piece of art depicting themselves on stage. This artwork will be displayed in the programme for the In Concert weekend.

This year in partnership with Wandsworth Music Academy, Enable worked with young jazz musicians at Wandsworth Music, offering opportunities to develop their performance skills through rehearsal work with professional musicians. The group of six young musicians will then have the fantastic opportunity to perform on stage in front of thousands to open the show for the Ronnie Scott's Jazz Orchestra. All participants and their families have been offered the chance to attend the concert series with complimentary tickets, so they can enjoy the rich culture Wandsworth, London Borough of Culture 2025, has to offer.  

Councillor Kate stock, Cabinet Member for children said, I’m absolutely delighted that 400 local children have had the opportunity to have workshops with world class musicians. At Wandsworth Council we believe that all children should have access to the fantastic opportunities this borough has to offer. I am delighted they have been able to broaden their horizons to music and to instruments they may want to play in the future.  

Each year Wandsworth Council offers over 8,000 tickets to various events via our community outreach and Access for All schemes. This year 2100 free tickets to Battersea Park in Concert have been made available to those on means tested benefits, local charities, community groups, school outreach programme participants and emergency services. 

As with all our ticketed events, all sales help us raise funds to deliver Enable’s charitable mission of enriching lives through investment in supporting active lifestyles, community and cultural events, and the improvement of natural habitats, alongside and on behalf of Wandsworth Council.