After Lang Lang inspired 100 young keyboard players (including two Sevenoaks students) in a pianists’ jamoboree at the Royal Festival Hall, we thought: why not have a similar event in Sevenoaks School? 

So on Thursday 31 May, Alda Dizdari led a day of music-making in The Space. The central event was a massed performance of two dance movements by 70 young violinists, aged 5-12, from around West Kent. I wrote these two dance movements specifically for three types of violinist: people who had reached Grade 2, people who had reached Grade 1 and people who had not yet got that far. For them, the music had to be open strings and first fingers only! These movements were based on the dance styles Bach would have known and it was these dance style pieces which formed the basis of the rest of the day. 

First, Miss Dizdari led an in-depth study of Bach’s A minor violin concerto with the Sevenoaks Strings and the Senior String Players. Later she addressed the Lower School and gave an open masterclass with Charlene Chau on Bach’s other violin concerto in E major. This all tied in with her UK tour, In the Footsteps of Bach.

Finally, in the evening, all the musicians returned and performed the works they had been preparing, to their parents, in an exciting and energetic performance in the Pamoja Hall.

Christopher Dyer