In February 2025, I directed a production of Let's Build A Town for Music at Oxford. This has been nominated in the participatory category for an International YAM award 2025.

 

Inspired by research of Giles Masters at Oxford University, this was a re-imagining of a flexible composition, written by Hindemith and first performed in Berlin and Oxford in 1931. With a large team of music, dance, design, research and evaluation, we collaborated with two classes of primary school children for over 10 weeks, culminating in a performance in the round in Olivier Hall, Oxford March 2025.

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The children began by building a 'roundabout' or 'castle walls' in the centre of the space, folding hundreds of painted cardboard boxes and placing them, as bricks, in a circle around the band of musicians. They then proceeded to sing (Hindemith's original songs as well as a song and rhythm piece devised by the children), dance, play games and speak about their ideal town.