National Children's Orchestra
The National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain gives talented children aged 7-13 the opportunity to play in full, age-banded symphony orchestras. NCO’s nine national/regional ensembles have memberships split 50:50 between the State and Independent sectors.
Introducing Roger Clarkson - Director of Music, National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain 
Roger Clarkson, NCO’s Director of Music, was born in Yorkshire. He began playing trumpet at the age of six, continuing a long musical tradition in his family. His talent was recognised early, when he played with the
Grimethorpe Colliery Junior band. He frequently had to engage in fisticuffs to defend his trumpet and cornet at school, where musical ability did not rank highly within his peer group.
On leaving school, Roger gained a place in the Royal Air Force Musical Services. His work took him around the world, visiting 19 countries, performing in major concert halls and even visiting the Caribbean island of St Lucia to accompany the Prince of Wales on a royal tour. In 1991, he was sent as a medic to the Gulf with his Air Evacuation Squadron and this influenced his decision to move into the musical world outside the armed forces.
After a period of study with John Miller, the eminent Professor of Trumpet at the Guildhall School of Music, Roger was invited to teach at Gloucester Academy of Music and Performing Arts, where he soon became Head of Brass. He was also invited to teach at Wells Cathedral School and Taunton School and continued to play professionally around the South West. Roger found teaching particularly rewarding and gained his Certificate in Teaching from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.
When Vivienne Price, then NCO’s Director of Music fell ill, Roger was the obvious choice to deputise and he undertook to conduct the Christmas concert with virtually no notice and great success. His appointment as Director of Music followed soon after. Since taking over, Roger has started the Under-11 Orchestra and has developed the existing three regional orchestras, with a fourth now started in Bishop’s Stortford, bringing the total of NCO orchestras to nine.
In 2006 Roger took the 110-strong Main Orchestra and 32 staff to Beijing after receiving an invitation to perform at the Beijing International Music Festival. The only other British orchestra to perform there was the BBC Symphony Orchestra. It is a measure of his success with the organisation that applications have risen 30 per cent in the past three years.
Case Study: Katie Kwong, 12
A violinist of exceptional talent, 12 year-old Katie Kwong has been a member of the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain (NCO) since 2003. Passing her first audition at just seven, Katie is now Leader of NCO’s Main Orchestra - two years ahead of the average progression. Her consistently outstanding performance at NCO’s annual auditions has resulted in her being awarded an NCO-Leverhulme Trust Scholarship for four consecutive years - a record.
Katie’s talent was spotted early: she started playing the violin at age three after her mother noticed how inspired she had been following a toddlers’ music workshop. Katie began playing on a one-sixteenth size violin and her debut performance was at age four when she played at the West End’s London Palladium in a performance starring Elaine Page and Jason Scott Lee. Katie then entered music festivals and competitions and at the grand old age of five she had joined her local string orchestra. Her school quickly snapped her up for their school orchestra and chamber groups and she played with the Pro Corda for two years.
Katie’s school, North London Collegiate, entered her and her quartet group at the National Pro Corda Chamber Music for Schools in 2007 award where they won first prize. This led to the quartet playing in a prize-giving concert at the Cadogan Hall. This wasn’t Katie’s first experience of playing at this prestigious venue, having been invited to play a twelve-minute solo there at just age ten. Katie has won many first prize awards over the years, such as The Most Promising Young Musician of the Year at the Beckenham Festival for the last two years running.
Her school has recently acknowledged that she should have more time to practise her music and have re-arranged her timetable to allow for this. Katie is now 12 and says that she has enjoyed every single moment of the music-making that has come to fill her life. As well as her virtuosic violin skills, she also plays trumpet to Grade 5 standard and piano to Grade 7!
During Katie’s six years as a member of NCO she has taken part in many concerts at top venues around the country, including Bridgewater Hall, Manchester and the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank. In January 2005, following the Indonesian tsunami disaster, she joined other members of NCO to record the charity single ‘Grief Never Grows Old’ at Abbey Road Studios and in September of this year, she will be embarking with NCO on their 2008 Tour of Italy. Gifted, hard-working and dedicated, Katie Kwong is undoubtedly a star of the future.
Visit the official website for the National Children's Orchestra
www.nco.org.uk
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