Pupils from Willowbank Primary School in Glasgow’s West End hit the high notes yesterday at Strathclyde University’s Barony Hall in the finale of an intensive expressive music course led by musicians from the world-renowned City of London Sinfonia (CLS).

CLS musicians travelled to Willowbank from around the UK and helped coach the children to express themselves through music and song, building their confidence within the classroom environment among teachers and peers. The children then developed their own compositions, which they performed at the Barony Hall last night.

The course was part of CLS’s award-winning “Music in the Community” programme, which is sponsored by global professional services firm MMC (Marsh & McLennan Companies). MMC is the parent company of Marsh, the world’s leading insurance broker and risk adviser, and sister company Mercer, a leading provider of consulting, outsourcing and investment services, both of which have offices in Glasgow city centre.

Barry Kempton, Chief Executive of The City of London Sinfonia, commented: “The City of London Sinfonia is delighted to have the opportunity to work with pupils at Glasgow’s Willowbank Primary School over the course of two weeks. Enabling this kind of access to music and professional musicians in a broad spectrum of communities throughout the UK is one of the highlights of our longstanding partnership with our principal sponsor MMC.”

Nick Jones, Head of Communications and Marketing at Marsh, said: “Music in the Community provides children with the opportunity to perform alongside world-class musicians and develop their own musical skills, while also building their confidence, creativity and other key skills such as ideas-sharing and working in groups. Our colleagues at Marsh and Mercer have thoroughly enjoyed our time with the children at Willowbank.”

Music in the Community provides opportunities for children from less privileged areas to experience music and composition with professional musicians. It is one of the largest programmes of its type in the UK, and community projects have been undertaken in Birmingham, Leeds, London, Manchester, Belfast and Southampton.