Music Makers Class

The Wharfedale Festival of Performing Arts hosted a non-competitive Music Makers class in May. This class featured items from school music groups which are members of Yamsen.

Summer Concert
The Wharfedale Festival and Yamsen also hosted an annual concert in July, 'Music for a Summer's Day'. Our audience praised the fun and family-friendly atmosphere.

A grant from Booths Supermarkets sponsors a specialist workshop each year.  Last year we teamed up with the Northern Ballet Theatre to offer a wheelchair dance project. We were so impressed by the results that we commissioned a second children's wheelchair dance workshop and performance. The dancers--our clients and their family and staff--performed two inspirational pieces: an energetic group dance with stretchy bands and a beautiful trio in and out of chairs.

This concert also included enthusiastic performances from YAMSEN's One Accord and Off By Heart choirs, singing a few songs each and combining forces with each other and the audience for a powerful rendition of 'Zuma'. Both choirs sang songs with actions that added spectacle and helped us with the words.

We also heard a piece by the Gordon Parry Centre's Saturday morning music technology group. The piece was about being ourselves and what we feel. The group recorded all of the sounds in the morning, using the technology to put them in order and conduct their play-back during the concert.

The Lord Mayor of Ilkley attended the concert. He heartily congratulated us on our performances. Well done to all the participants!