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Centre for Young Musicians collaborates with Saffron Hall on Saturday school

1st July 2015

October 2015 will see the opening of the third music centre established outside London by the Morley College based Centre for Young Musicians (CYM). The Saffron Music Centre will offer a Saturday school run in collaboration with Saffron Walden County High (a state comprehensive school with a long history of music provision), Saffron Hall and Essex Music Education Hub, with various bursary options made available for children from low-income families.

The curriculum itself will be based on that of its parent school, the London CYM, a division of the Guildhall School, which was founded in 1970 and currently sees more than 400 young musicians aged 8 to 18 attend its Saturday Centre. The programme of studies ranges through classical, jazz, gamelan, folk and music theatre.

Stephen Dagg, director of CYM, said: “It gives me great pleasure to announce the opening of the Saffron Centre for Young Musicians. This partnership … precisely reflects the National Plan for Music Education’s commitment to collaborative working across the under eighteen sector. The Guildhall School’s Young Artists Division now has a truly national reach and we are delighted to offer talented young musicians in the Saffron Walden area access to the same opportunities we are able to provide in London, Norwich and Taunton.”

An alumnus of the Guildhall School, trumpeter Kate Goatman, who has a wide experience of teaching in the area, has been appointed head of the new centre. Saffron Hall, the £10m venue attached to Saffron Walden County High funded by the Yellow Car Charitable Trust, opened in November 2013 and hosts a year-round programme of concerts.

Read more on the Classical Music Magazine website

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