Toulouse. The children’s orchestra takes over the Halle aux grains –
On Sunday June 5 at 4 p.m. at the Halle aux grains, the Demos Toulouse Métropole-Département de la Haute-Garonne children’s orchestra will give its closing concert under the direction of conductor Christophe Mangou, who oversees the event. They will also be present on the stage of the Philharmonie de Paris on Saturday June 18 at 8 p.m.!
More than a hundred children have taken part, for three years, in the Demos program (Musical and orchestral education system with a social vocation), coordinated by the Cité de la musique-Philharmonie de Paris at the national level, in partnership with Toulouse Métropole and the Departmental Council of Haute-Garonne. Launched in 2019 in Toulouse, it allows children from 7 to 12 years old, far from musical practice for social, economic or geographical reasons, to follow a free musical apprenticeship and to join a children’s orchestra.
The Orchester national du Capitole de Toulouse carries the project
The Orchester National du Capitole de Toulouse (ONCT), attached to the mediation of classical music, carries this development project in the Toulouse metropolis and in 2 municipalities of the department (Muret and Villefranche-de-Lauragais).
The children, introduced to music through song and dance, discover the instruments (woodwinds, strings, brass) and choose the one they wish to practise. Supervised by music and social professionals, each child follows weekly workshops in a structure in their neighborhood and regularly meets up with other children in the area during a “tutti” orchestra rehearsal. Musical learning is enriched by mediation actions imposed by the ONCT (visits, performances, etc.).
At the end of these three years, children who so wish can continue their practice within the partner musical teaching structures and keep their instruments.
At the start of the 2022 school year, around a hundred children from metropolitan France and the department will in turn join Demos for a new three-year cycle.
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