What is Dunedin Consort’s School Workshop Programme?

Every year we take our music outside the concert hall and into the community, offering inspiring, participatory workshops to children from deprived areas, where access to first-class music-making really does have the power to transform lives.

Since 2018, thanks to support from Baillie Gifford, our education programme has expanded fourfold, allowing us to extend our reach around 1,500 children across Scotland. This work continues in autumn 2023. Over a two-month period we will be working closely with schools, children, teachers and parents to explore the invaluable, and often intangible, ability that music has to bring people together, to ignite creative sparks and to inspire the next generation.

These workshops culminate in our Children’s Messiah performances in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Perth in December, where participating schools come together to enjoy Handel’s Messiah in a specially-crafted performance for children.

‘The whole experience was exceptional… the children were exposed to high quality experiences with accomplished musicians and a genre of music that isn’t familiar to them. Our children found the workshops fascinating and were engaged from start to finish. Having that time to fully explore the music and understand how it develops made the final performance much more meaningful for them.’

‘It was lovely to see certain children shine and come to life through music in a way that they wouldn’t necessarily do in class. I could tell that for some of them the experience was awe- inspiring and revelatory – the power of art.’

‘Our workshop leader was so enthusiastic and engaging, and all the children looked forward to her visits. She had a great classroom management and presence which not every external organisation has experience with.’