Bassooning on the beach in Barcelona
Bassoonist Noé Cantu from the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (OBC) attended the Association of British Orchestra’s 2019 conference in Belfast, thanks to an innovative European-funded collaborative orchestra project.
In conversation I discovered that, to mark Fête de la Musique (Make Music Day), the OBC a few years ago started performing a free concert on the beach on 21 June.
The repertoire was a bit of popular film music, some well-known excerpts of longer classical repertoire, a taster of their next season, some pop songs – an eclectic mixture.
That annual free performance now regularly attracts thousands. Whilst many may never make that move across into the OBC’s usual concert hall, Noé tells me that actually quite a few have not just attended regular concerts, but become season ticket holders, too.
Goes to show what Make Music Day can achieve in terms of getting new people to discover the magic of the sound produced by a large group of excellent performers. And here are a couple of videos to show you the magic in action… (Spanish optional).