Bringing communities together through music: Britten Sinfonia Thetford Residency

In November 2023 Britten Sinfonia embarked on a new, long-term residency in the town of Thetford, in south Norfolk, aiming to embed the orchestra in the town, giving people of different generations opportunities to experience and participate in high-quality music making.
In the first five-month phase of the project, players from the orchestra worked with school pupils, toddlers in nurseries, care home residents and members of the local community. Britten Sinfonia ran music listening and making sessions that also brought together a composer-facilitator and local leisure-time ensembles.
The project split into three strands:
Pushchair Playlists
Presenter Polly Ives and harpist, Milo Harper, brought live music to four Thetford nurseries. These introductory sessions were followed by interactive, creative music-making with a variety of musicians from the orchestra.
Musical Memories
Composer Raph Clarkson facilitated weekly participatory music sessions with community groups at Ancient House Museum and Cloverfield Community Church, in partnership with Thetford and District Dementia Support. Starting as opportunities to hear familiar songs and pieces of music, the sessions moved towards discussing Thetford’s past and present, and the collaborative writing of new songs, inspired by the participants’ hometown.
Thetford Folksongs
Britten Sinfonia players worked with primary school pupils from Diamond Academy and secondary school pupils from Thetford Academy, conducted by Christopher Parsons, playing side by side and offering coaching and advice. The pupils took part in creative music sessions, and, working with composer Raph Clarkson, wrote the words and music for two new pieces for chamber orchestra and choir.
Phase 1 finale
On 17 March 2024, the three strands of the project came together with performances of the new, collaborative songs and other repertoire at The Carnegie, Thetford. These showcased the school pupils and Musical Memory participants, who performed alongside musicians from Britten Sinfonia, conductor Christopher Parsons and local leisure-time ensembles Bury Free Orchestra and Thetford Singers.
Impact on participants and partners
“As practitioners, it has boosted our confidence and given us lots of tips to try things to add to our musical and vocal activities. There are things that I know the children would love to see again such as the trumpet mouthpiece and hose pipe and feeling the sound travelling through.”
- Nursery staff member
“I think ‘community’ is something we all hope for. I think people want to feel part of something. And I think something like this encourages people to come out of their homes and be part of a community.”
- Musical Memories participant
“I have been organising events for dementia group for some time, and I never thought we would ever have music of this quality played in this hall”
- Cloverfield Community Church staff member
“The social journey has been huge because the students have rehearsed together so much. It’s that cross-year group bonding - it builds a community in the whole school. We now have students saying hello to each other in the corridor, having a brief moment of connection which might brighten their day. That sense of community is being spread across the whole school because those the music students who are now friends have friends who are becoming friends.”
- Laura Hodges, Head of Performing Arts, Thetford Academy
“It’s given me something to do this weekend rather than sitting on my own at home.”
- Thetford Academy Student
“We now have waiting lists for all visiting music teachers, and we’ve seen the kinds of instruments change too - previously there were guitars and drums, but now the woodwind teacher is maxed out. We didn’t have a strings teacher before the project started and now we do. This project is definitely a contributing factor.”
- Michael Fordnam, Principal, Thetford Academy
“Seeing how the Britten Sinfonia players thought about the piece, trying out different bowings together, watching how the players communicate with each other on a professional level and taking responsibility for the shape of the music and their own part in it. It extended the pleasure that I get from playing.”
- Bury Friendly Orchestra player
“It’s so amazing to be immersed by players of such ability and it takes pieces we’ve performed to a new level. That’s what I was expecting but I got that more. What I wasn’t expecting was the emotion of being involved with the children and the town.”
- Bury Friendly Orchestra Player