Last year, the BBC introduced its Ten Pieces project to bring classical music to primary school children, and it proved a great success. Now, a second group of Ten Pieces has been announced, this time aimed at secondary school pupils.
Aimed at interesting children of 11 and over in listening to, performing and even composing classical music themselves, the new Ten Pieces scheme will be introduced by a specially made BBC film, in which the BBC Philharmonic will perform all ten works. The scheme will also be promoted in schools across the UK.
For the first Ten Pieces projects, primary school children were introduced to the joys of works such as 'Mars' from Holst's Planets, Handel's Zadok the Priest and Musorgsky's A night on Bare Mountain. This time round, secondary school pupils will get know works by composers ranging from JS Bach and Haydn in the 18th century to Anna Clyne and Gabriel Prokofiev from the present day.
Ambassadors have been appointed to promote the project, including trumpeter Alison Balsom and violinist Nicola Benedetti, who will both appear in the new film itself – Balsom performing the third movement of Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto and Benedetti playing Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending.
The full list of the new Ten Pieces is as follows:
JS Bach (orch. Stokowski): Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
Haydn: Trumpet Concerto (Third movement)
Verdi: ‘Dies Irae’ and ‘Tuba Mirum’ from Requiem
Bizet: ‘Habanera’ and ‘Toreador Song’ from Carmen
Wagner: ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ from Die Walküre
Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 (Second movement)
Bernstein: ‘Mambo’ from West Side Story
Gabriel Prokofiev: Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra (5th movement)
Anna Clyne: Night Ferry
