Manchester
Contact: John Summers, Chief Executive
The Halle Orchestra has a thorough five-year strategic plan on education and ensembles involving a number of partners including some in higher education. The Halle offers a range of professional experience schemes including a postgraduate scheme with the Royal Northern College of Music through which students work with the orchestra for half a year.
Since 2000, the Orchestra has run an open applications scheme very successfully, attracting players from across the world many of whom end up working in the orchestra.
The opportunities vary according to the orchestral section: The String Leadership scheme provides opportunities to play at concerts and the young people get paid the full professional rate.
For Wind, Brass and Percussion, the RNCM students, probably in their mid-twenties, have an opportunity to sit by a player in the orchestra and learn from that experience.
There is the Young Conductor Position also. Through this traineeship the young conductor learns by assisting the Principal Conductor, running the Youth Orchestra and develops their skills in a safe environment. One of the former Young Conductors was Ed Gardner, also of ENO fame.
Students from Manchester University can enjoy the Adopt a Player scheme.
The orchestra also works closely with the Science and Engineering Education Research and Innovation Hub providing an enriching science programme with Halle Shine for Manchester’s Saturday Schools.
With MMU, the Halle has close links with the Faculty of Health Psychology and Social Care providing evaluation to some of the programmes.