Musicians visit Grantham strings group

Budding young musicians from Oasby Music Group got the chance to play with two of the UK’s most sought after musicians last week.

Violinist Nicola Benedetti, the winner of Best Female Artist at both the 2012 and 2013 Classical BRIT Awards joined cellist Leonard Elschenbroich, who has established himself as one of the most charismatic cellists of his generation, for a workshop at the Grantham International Preparatory School, last Tuesday.

They worked with three groups of children including Cantabile Violin Quartet, an intermediate ensemble of 33 children and an advanced ensemble of 23 children, on Elgar’s Serenade for Strings, in sessions aimed at motivating and inspiring the young string players.

During the evening, Nicola worked with three ensembles and Leonard worked with the cellists individually before joining Nicola to conduct the advanced ensemble in Elgar’s Serenade for Strings.

Oasby Music Group was founded in 2013, by Laura Gardiner, who left her job as a primary school teacher in December 2012, to set up the group to provide ensemble opportunities for young string players in Lincolnshire.

Now in its fifth year, it has grown from one to eleven ensembles who meet and rehearse four times a term.

Laura said: “Nicky and Leonard’s visit was so special. It marks the start of our fifth anniversary year and is also a wonderful experience for the children. It is inspiring for young musicians to have such formidable role models as Nicola and Leonard, who give so much of their time to work with groups of children.”

Amelia Whitfield, 9, said: “I was really excited when Nicola walked through the door. When I made a little mistake, she just said that ‘mistakes happen and smile as it might be a funny mistake.’”

For more info, visit www.oasbymusicgroup.co.uk.