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Pramudi joins Air Cadet National Orchestra

On Saturday 6th November, pupil Pramudi Wijayasiri was one of just over a dozen Air Cadets who were at RAF Northolt for the first gathering of what may become a new ACO orchestra.
Pramudi achieved a place on the first desk in the orchestra and was delighted to have achieved the prestigious position. It is an amazing achievement, especially considering that violin is her second instrument, piano being her first!! She is attending a residential course in February next year.

Many cadets had travelled hundreds of miles to be at the Strings Workshop that was led by members of the RAF's Salon Orchestra under the direction of Chief Technician Barry Stringer. The day followed on from a comment made by Lady Anne Dalton, wife of the Chief of the Air Staff, Sir Stephen Dalton after she heard the Salon Orchestra playing and discussed the support of ACO music with them.

The cadets spent the day playing through pieces of music ranging from ballet to The Beatles while all the time receiving help from the RAF's professional musicians.

Much of the training for the day was undertaken by Kenneth Bell, recently retired from RAF Music Services, his last appointment being Bandmaster of the Band of the RAF Regiment. He stated that: "From the outset, the rehearsal went far better than originally envisaged or hoped for".

The ACO's Principal Director of Music, Wg Cdr Gil Singleton RAFVR(T) said "I am delighted that this experiment went so well, and it augers well for the future. On the strength of the musical talent displayed today, I plan to create a string ensemble to ‘sit' alongside the National Concert Band and work on joint ventures and performances"

Lady Dalton was pleased to be at this initial Workshop and presented Musician badges to some of the cadets present, after they were assessed during the rehearsals by Wg Cdr Singleton.

All the professional musicians from the RAF Salon Orchestra were very impressed by the standard of the cadet musicians, and expressed their wish to be involved in the future development of the Air Cadet National Orchestra.

Pramudi