Home News Orchestra ONE’s Greatest Hits – Competition Winners
Posted on: 23 June, 2020

Orchestra ONE’s Greatest Hits – Competition Winners

For the last nine years, young people across Kent have been coming together to take part in our epic Orchestra ONE projects. The music created during these courses never fails to impress and inspire us here at Kent Music.

Back in April, our brilliant sound engineer, Tom Wood, had the great idea of creating a ‘Greatest Hits’ album, celebrating and showcasing some of the original music created by our participants. Tom delved into the O1 archives and picked out the best bits from our projects over the last couple of years. He remastered these and created an album playlist of “Orchestra ONE – Greatest Hits” tracks.

We invited all of our past participants from the last twenty-four O1 projects to submit their original artwork for the cover of the album, as well as their top memories and best bits from their time at O1.

All of the entries we received were superb, each capturing different aspects of the project. It was very difficult to pick a winner but, after much deliberation, the top prize went to Aramide Oyegoke! Aramide’s artwork showcased some of the main themes and ideas that have been explored in recent projects, as well as a number of the instruments that are regularly featured. Aramide also shared her experiences as a long-time participant of the project.

“My name is Aramide Oyegoke, I am 15 years old and I’ve been participating in Orchestra One for the past 3 years, my first project being the ‘War and Peace’. 

I’ve made such lovely friends and have thoroughly enjoyed making and performing music with the best music leaders for each section.    

It’s such a shame that Project 25 has to be postponed but revisiting all the projects has been very fun and exciting!   

I feel that I’ve grown so much not just as a violinist but a musician in general. I never would have thought I’d get solo opportunities and work with such a vast timbre of instruments that I wouldn’t get in a “regular” string orchestra.   

The last project which was Game Music has to be my favourite project because of the pirates theme and the Egyptian sounding melodies.    

In my image I have tried to replicate as many various key symbols from each project: Zoo, Gaming, Halloween and many more. The Egyptian does seem to centre this image because as part of Game Music it was the most interesting.   

I’ve also tried to include as many instruments as I could think that I have played alongside at Orchestra One.   

Thank you so much for giving me these opportunities!”

 

In 2nd place, we had the super sweet artwork from one of our younger participants, Marie Harris:

Meanwhile, Rowan Illingworth’s funky artwork was awarded an extremely well-deserved third place:

Our winners’ artwork perfectly encapsulates what O1 is all about – creativity, inclusivity, and a true love of music making. you can also find artwork from our two wonderful runners up, and some more memories, at the bottom of this page.

Have a listen to our Greatest Hits playlist and happily reminisce! But be warned – you may have an ear worm or two stuck in your brain for the next few days…

Noah Lock and Fenton Sinclair were our close runners up, each presenting a simplistic but stylish take on the project:

Sebastian Sprigge shared his favourite memories of Orchestra ONE, giving a first-hand account of the creative, inclusive nature of this excellent project – but don’t take it from us, Sebastian has covered it all!

When I chose to play the cornet at eight and a half, in a marching band, I was a bit nervous but had little idea what a great choice in instrument I had made. Over the years this instrument has proved a very important part of my life and opened up many opportunities for me.  

One of these opportunities occurred in April 2016, when my mother first told me about a new group she had discovered. It was called Orchestra One. I understood you attended workshops over 4 days and during this period you composed new music and then performed what you had created.   

I was shocked, not only did this idea intrigue me, but it also awed me to an unknown point that you could write 3-4 pieces in less than a week. I thought to myself however, “It will probably be just some small, one-off thing, with a few random people”. As it turned out this was quite the opposite and attending O1 would shape my musical abilities into something I am proud of.  

I was nine when my twin brother (who plays the violin) and I attended our first O1 session. The theme was Movement, the Music Director was Bracken Burns and I discovered I was the only brass player for that programme.    

Considering I had just started learning the cornet, and it felt an achievement to play the most basic of notes, I was naturally nervous about being the solo brass. However, my concerns were soon put to rest by the O1 team, who introduced everyone with interactive games and made us all feel valued. Bracken as MD and Peter Bolton as lead of the Wind section, really encouraged me with playing more proudly and creatively.   

One of the things that struck me during my first O1 and still does today is how inclusive it is. Everyone is treated equally despite age and ability. I believe it is this attitude that gives O1 such a friendly welcoming feel.  

On the day of the “Movement concert” I felt so proud of what we had created and it was amazing to hear the cheers and comments from the audience.   

After our first O1 project, my brother and I kept coming back. Over that time different Music Directors have lead the projects and each brings something new to the table to enhance our musical knowledge and performance skills.   

On my second project (Technology), I was relieved to see I would not be the only brass player and made friends with a fellow cornet/trumpet player and his brother who plays guitar. It was on this project too that I first met Simon Clarke, a saxophonist, who led and continues to lead the Wind section. Our wind pack is great fun and Simon always encourages us to push ourselves.  

Over time the thrice-yearly O1 workshops have become a firm fixture in my calendar. I look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones. I look forward to intensive music composition and creative playing. I continue to be amazed by how we manage to put a whole show together in four days. Most importantly though, I continue to feel so proud to be an O1 member.

Congratulations to all our winners and thank you so much to everyone who sent in their artwork and memories. We are all missing our beloved Orchestra ONE and we can’t wait until the day we can be together again to create more wonderful, original music!

Please keep an eye on the Orchestra ONE page and Facebook page for updates and news on our future projects!