State of the Arts members left to right Chun Yip Kwok, Tom Collins, James Maiden (Lecturer), Lorna Foyle, Alex Gillespie

Stratford-upon-Avon College music students embarked on a once in a lifetime journey to New York City in March.

On March 21^st 2011, a group of four young musicians from the College’s HND music course flew over to New York City. The arts collective known as, ‘State of the Arts’ travelled over 3,700 miles to gather research for their spectacular music project, ‘500’.

Originally, ‘500’ was a concept of music to images developed by the late French philosopher, Pierre Ghesquiere Lafonte. The musicians have brought it to life through their use of multi-screen imagery alongside original contemporary music.

During the excursion the group visited many of New York’s momentous sites including the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, the Natural History Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and Ground Zero. ‘500’ is a reflection of the group’s experiences portrayed through modern music and gracefully accompanied by a series of images from the city.

Programme Co-ordinator for Music, James Maiden said, ‘It has been fantastic for these young musicians to visit the city where so much contemporary music was shaped. Watching them work collecting sounds and images from New York itself and incorporating them into their own response to the city’s artistic endeavours has been a fascinating and thrilling experience.’

Also featuring an energetic recital of Americana, Jazz and Blues related music from both years of the BTEC Level 3 music courses, this event is not to be missed. The performance is to be staged on the 12^th & 13^th of May at 7pm in the New Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon College. Tickets are of limited availability and can be purchased from the Stratford-upon-Avon College box office at £5 per adult and £3 concession. Call 01789 266245 or boxoffice@stratford.ac.uk| 

 If you would like more information, please contact marketing@stratford.ac.uk. |