In October 2010, the Houston Symphony visited The Bridgewater Hall to perform The Planets: an HD Odyssey. Three primary schools from Greater Manchester worked with local artists and musicians to transform the foyer area, creating space inspired music, planets and aliens.
Two year 4 classes from Brooklands Primary in Sale created an entire galaxy of 3d planets surrounded by aliens, rockets and space hardware. Year 5 at St Andrew's in Levenshulme designed individual planets and aliens which wound around the pillars on Circle level, whilst year 6 at Church Road in Bolton compiled an animated film to project their creations over the heads of unsuspecting diners in Touchstones cafe. All three groups worked with practitioners from Artists and Education.
On a second workshop day, music leader Kate Pearson introduced children to some of Holst's music and helped them to create their own short compositions exploring real and imaginary planets. These pieces played beside the installations in the foyer to create an exciting atmosphere throughout the building.
Below are the children's descriptions of their music. Contact us if you were involved and would like any copies!
Visitors to the concert were enthusiastic about the additions to the foyer, and many lingered to photograph the installations at the end of the night. Our audience for the evening even spread as far as Houston Texas, as the Symphony's press officer linked up live to a class of children at home through a laptop in the foyer. This group gathered around the computer to see the fabulous spaces in the foyer, admire the creations of the British schools and chat live to pupils from St Andrew's about the project they had been involved in.
Space! ended on the evening of the concert, when all three schools visited the Hall to hear Holst's famous music performed live, accompanied by high definition film collected by NASA. For many this was their first classical concert, and they ended the evening delighted to have contributed to a spectacular event at The Bridgewater Hall.
