Lissy Kelleher-Clarke

Hello, and welcome to The Culture Bar, a panel discussion podcast exploring the arts and music world. In this podcast ahead of our Foundation Symposium, we wanted to explore the musical landscape of Bristol. To do this, we were joined by Samir Savant from St. George’s Bristol, and Doug Bott from Open Up Music to tell us a bit more about their organisations and their experience of music in Bristol. Welcome, everybody to this podcast where we will be focusing on the musical landscape of Bristol with two of our revered guests. We have Samir Savant who’s the Chief Executive Officer of St. George’s in Bristol, where we will be hosting the music education at scale symposium next week. And we’re also joined by Doug Bott, who’s the Artistic Director of Open Up Music also based in Bristol, though with national programmes, and they will take us through their reflections and thoughts on the musical landscape of Bristol and what their organisations are currently up to take it away. 

Samir Savant

I’m Samir as Lissy said, I’m CEO at St. George’s Bristol. This year, we’re celebrating our 200^th anniversary because the church which is the concert hall, that is St. George’s is 200 years old. So we’ve been celebrating this year, which has been lovely. And we were music and spoken word venue in the heart of the city. We have musicians of all genres coming. Just last Friday, we had Jess Gillam, who the saxophonist who’s a HarrisonParrott Foundation Ambassador. And earlier this season, we also had Leia Zhu, fantastic young violinist who is another HarrisonParrott Foundation Ambassador. And we were, you know, really exciting place to work. I’m a trained singer. And since I arrived in Bristol, just over two years ago, I’ve started Bristol’s Festival of Voice because I keep being told they are there more choirs here in Bristol per head than anywhere else in the UK. And that’s borne out by the kind of mass participation singing events we’ve done. And more on that and on, over to you, Doug.

Doug Bott

So yeah, I’m Doug Bott, the Artistic Director of Open Up Music, which is a charity based in Bristol that we work nationally. We have a mission to open up music to young disabled musicians. So we serve young people who would otherwise face barriers to music education. And we do that through three programmes. So we run the National Open Youth Orchestra, which is a pioneering inclusive orchestra where young, disabled and non disabled musicians get to rehearse and perform together. And that’s been going since 2018. And actually our first concert in Bristol we performed at St. George’s a couple of years ago, which was a wonderful event. We also run a programme called Open orchestras, which we believe is the biggest community of practice for accessible ensemble music making in the UK, possibly even in the world. We currently work with 60 Special Educational Needs schools around England and Wales. So that’s about first access and getting young disabled people in schools, making live music ensembles. And then we’ve also developed a wonderful accessible inclusive musical instrument called the Clarion which the HarrisonParrott Foundation wonderfully supported. And this is an instrument which you can play with any part of your body. You can even play it with your eyes using eye gaze technology. And we’re very excited that we are kind of gearing up to make that publicly available next year. So yeah, that’s that’s the kind of music I always think that it’s the kind of organisation that could only ever really have grown out of Bristol because Bristol is a very singular, unique place which tends to do things a little bit differently. I think it’s no accident that you know, the artist Banksy really cut his teeth in Bristol. I don’t think that would have happened anywhere else taking street art and turning it into something completely, extraordinarily different from from what it was. It’s an amazing place and yeah, I don’t think that Open Up Music would have would have developed anywhere else. There’s so much wonderful stuff going on here.

Lissy Kelleher Clarke 

That’s amazing. So do you think there’s a certain sort of inherent artistic quality to Bristol? Or do you think it’s a place, you know, just a hotbed for innovators? Like, what do you think it is about Bristol that sort of makes it such a brilliant place for musical organisations to thrive?

Doug Bott

I think, yeah. You mentioned the word innovators, there’s, there’s definitely an innovative streak in Bristol, you might even go so far as to say that it’s a bit rebellious. I think artists in organisations in Bristol tend to go a little bit against the grain in terms of how things get set up. I mean, you know, the Paraorchestra is also based here. And that was a decision which they took, they decided to be based in Bristol, because it has this unique, slightly rebellious spirit. So yeah, it probably goes back to something in Bristol’s history. I’m not a good enough historian to know exactly what that might be others, others might have better solutions. That yeah, there’s, there’s something great, there’s something in the water here.

Samir Savant

I agree, there is definitely something in the water. And having only moved to just over two years ago, I’m very conscious of the differences between Bristol and other cities where I’ve lived in the UK. I mean, but to the history point, alongside St. George’s being 200 years old, the building is 650 years old as a city. So it’s been fiercely independent since the reign of Edward III, who granted the city charter to us. So Bristol has been it’s a city under a county all by itself. And it’s really annoying when you have to fill in those address things. And it’s insisting that you give a county because there is they never have the option of Bristol being a county, you either have to be in Gloucestershire or Somerset. And that’s not the truth in history, you know, whether it’s kind of the repeal of the Corn Laws or the the abolition of slavery, Bristol’s always been right in, you know, politically active city, you the citizens are all very politically active, politically engaged. And also, I think it’s the scale of the city because it’s half a million people. And compared to much bigger cities, like Birmingham, or London, things get done. I mean, people know each other. I always joke for dinner, you have to be super nice to everyone you meet, because you can guarantee that there’ll be behind you in the queue at Sainsbury’s A week later, that just doesn’t happen in bigger cities. So there is a sense of connectivity, and a sense of civic pride in Bristol that I’ve not encountered in other cities where I’ve lived.

Lissy Kelleher Clarke 

That’s lovely, and maybe touches on a point that we want to discuss of kind of musical or artistic communities and how that plays such a big role in kind of, I think the success of musical organisations is when you have that sense of community and belonging, and it’s sort of that shared identity.

Samir Savant 

Leaping in here, actually, I think Bristol is the only city in the UK are one of very few, where one of the very large music venues. So Bristol Beacon, which will reopen on the 30 November, is also the Bristol education, music, the music education hub, and having a you know, a professional concert venue, which is very kind of inclusive and open and welcoming in community also running all those education services. I think that’s its unique if not the only one example, Doug, you might know better than me.

Doug Bott

No, I think you’re absolutely right. And I think the way in which Bristol Beacon as a music hub has worked since the advent of the national plan for music education in 2012 is really great, really commendable. They were hugely supportive in the development of my organisation Open Up Music, which has now been going for about eight, nine years. They gave us some room in their Music Centre as our first office gave us lots of introductions and a real boost as a small organisation which of course is exactly what music hubs is set up to do set up to connect music organisations together in partnership. And of course, I know that this will St George’s have a very particular relationship, a very close working relationship as well. So yeah, there’s there’s a great sense of community shared responsibility, shared mission, I think, across the music sector in Bristol, in terms of education and on the music industry more widely, which is one of the things that I love about living and working here.

Samir Savant

And I was talking about kind of for mass participation in singing projects that we’ve been doing at St. George’s and the Festival of Voice. I mean, you know, in my first year here we started Festival of Voice. And already in that first year we did a flash mob Hallelujah chorus for the Platinum Jubilee, which involves several 100 singers. And then earlier this year, we did a sing for the king project with 650 singers as part of Bristol 650. Blasting out Zadok the Priest with City of Bristol Brass Band in Bristol Cathedral, which is just amazing. And next year, we’re launching a sing for Happiness Project, which will involve hopefully up to 1000 Singers, both in person and online. And alongside getting together to sing we’re running kind of a study into the impact of singing on mental health together with our colleague Kat Branch, who runs the Centre for music at UWE and is one of the key speakers at the symposium on the 29 November. And is also a St George’s trustee. So you know, so much interconnection going on. And I have you know, people say to me that there are more choirs per head of population in Bristol. I don’t know whether it’s true, and I don’t know why it should be. But we do now have 150 plus choirs in Bristol, Bath and beyond on our database for Festival of Voice at St. George’s. And the choir leaders get together regularly every month here at St. George’s. So there’s definitely a massive singing community out there. I think it’s something to do with Bristol being a very cosmopolitan city, being a trading city and inviting a lot of people in over many, many centuries. And also the kind of singing tradition the combination of the kind of Somerset/​Gloucestershire folk singing traditions, Sea Shantis throw that in as well. So I think it’s just created this this great fertile ground for song.

Lissy Kelleher Clarke 

That is amazing 150 choirs, utterly extraordinary. So what do we have to look forward to in the coming months from both Open Up Music and St. George’s?

Doug Bott

So for Open Up Music, we have a concert tour by the National Open Youth Orchestra coming up in April and May next year. So we’re going to be playing four concerts. One in Bristol, which will be at the newly opened Bristol Beacon following on from our St. George’s concert couple of years ago. We’re will also be played at Birmingham town hall and Milton Court in London and at the Lighthouse in Poole. And that’s just a crucial part of our mission to to give a platform for talented young disabled musicians. And also to really raise aspirations among audiences about what young disabled musicians can achieve. And I think this is a this is a key part of the slightly rebellious spirit that Bristol encapsulates for me, is that this slightly audacious idea which so many people were unsure about, let’s say, when we, when we first came up with the idea of the National Open Youth Orchestra, you know, it’s a very, it’s a very challenging and adventurous undertaking. You know, that’s, that’s why I was saying I think you know, Bristol’s the kind of place where this idea needed to take root. And accessibility in general is something of course that my organisation Open Up Music is passionate about, and Bristol in general as well. So there are so many Bristol venues that have invested huge amounts in access in recent years, not least St. George’s, and also Bristol Old Vic Theatre and of course, the Bristol Beacon, which has placed accessibility of for its audiences and its performance, you know, at the heart of the relaunch and the opening. And then as I said, of course, the Paraorchestra being based here as a pioneering orchestra, which very much like the National Open Youth Orchestra mixes conventional acoustic and electronic instruments. So, so much of it is about reinventing and reimagining what an orchestra can be in the future. And all of that has fertile ground to flourish here in Bristol.

Samir Savant

It’s really exciting to hear all your plans, Doug and I’m on both of us, I’m sure I’m looking for we’re looking forward to the reopening of Bristol Beacon on the 30 November, which involves the Paraorchestra and also Limbic Cinema it’s going to be a great night. St. George’s. Well, we’ve got a really busy Christmas it’s no surprise really we work a lot with a local leisure time orchestras and choirs. They’re all piling into their Christmas concerts. Bristol is also the UNESCO city of film and Aardman Animations are based here. So film plays a lot an important part in our Christmas celebrations. So we’ve got city of Bristol Brass Band and giving performances of The Snowman for family audiences and Bristol ensemble who are our local professional Chamber Orchestra doing Shaun the Sheep, the Aardman Animation Shaun the Sheep which be great. And my own Choir The Fitzhardinge Consort are well we were down to give one carols by candlelight performance and it’s already sold out. So now we’re giving a second by popular demand. So big, big Christmas plans. And also I just wanted to highlight three performers that are coming next year, which kind of emphasises the diversity of the kind of programming here. We’ve got the wonderful singer Otto Lampa. So excited that she’s coming to St. George’s. We’ve got the Indian classical flautist Rakesh Chaurasia I guess I’m of Indian heritage myself. So I grew up having Indian classical music lessons alongside Western singing lessons. So I’m really excited about that. And finally, the Academy of Ancient Music are coming the first time they’ve played at St. George’s, with the African American countertenor Reginald Mobley, who’s going to do a really varied programme of George Frederick Handel, Henry Purcell, and also Sansho, who was a contemporary of Handels and Purcells. He was born a slave and freed and came to this country and was a polymath. He was a writer, he was a, an advocate for the emancipation of slaves, and so very politically active, and he was a composer. So Reginald Mobley is going to sing some of his works, alongside contemporary reimagining by Roderick Williams, as well. So that’s, that’s in late May really excited about that.

Lissy Kelleher Clarke 

I mean, that sounds incredible. In fact, both of you sound like got amazing things going on. I feel like that was a beautiful whistlestop tour of both of your organisation’s how they are knitted into the cultural landscape of Bristol, and lots of exciting things to come. So that leaves me I think, to invite anybody listening to join us at the symposium next week 29 November 2pm till 6pm at St. George’s, where you can hear even more from both Samir and Doug, who will both be keynote speakers at the event. So thank you very much indeed. That is it for this episode of The Culture Bar podcast. We hope you enjoyed it. I’d like to thank Samir and Doug for joining us for this particular podcast. And you can visit StGe​orges​bris​tol​.co​.uk and openup​mu​sic​.org for more information.