Arts in the Community

FPPC is not only about bringing great musicians to perform in Portaferry it is about encouraging people to make music and to participate in the arts. Apart from our community choir - the NewQuay Singers which is featured elsewhere on this site, we have organised several very successful workshops for people of all ages but working especially closely with neighbouring schools. Children from our locality are rarely exposed to international musicians. It is our experience, and from the feedback received, that they learn from and are inspired by these collaborations.

Our first workshop was with the Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea on 12th April 2008. Over 100 people of all ages joined in two workshops and then gave a performance in the afternoon.
In November 2008 Brenda Rattray, one of London's leading jazz singers, gave a series of workshops in individual local primary schools. The children then joined her for her concert actually performing as part of this. The music they learnt was subsequently used in a series of school performances.

In October 2009 string players from local schools joined us for a workshop with the Chilingirian String Quartet playing Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Dvorak. This was, again, an amazing opportunity for these children to develop their string playing skills further and, again, the pieces learnt have been performed on several occasions as part of school life.

In April 2010 His Majesty's Sagbutts and Cornetts will give, as part of their three day visit to Portaferry, two workshops. Whilst the larger one will be for brass players from all over Ireland, they will also give one dedicated to the brass players in the local secondary school. These children are striving to practice and this workshop will give incentive to develop their skills both before and after the event!