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Use the links below to find out more about the Hallé Harmony Youth Orchestra and its Music Directors, as well as details of their final public performance.
Hallé Harmony Youth Orchestra
James Lowe
Sinead Hayes
Final public performance
Further information
Hallé Harmony Youth Orchestra
The Hallé Harmony Youth Orchestra aims to provide an unforgettable musical experience for approximately 70 young musicians aged 10-17 years. It uses the power of classical symphonic music to bring together young people from a range of backgrounds. The young people come from across Greater Manchester, particularly the boroughs of Bolton, Manchester City, Oldham and Stockport who are supporting the project.
The Hallé Harmony Youth Orchestra started rehearsals in May 2009 and rehearses with Music Director, James Lowe, and Associate Conductor, Sinead Hayes, on a weekly basis during term-time and benefits from regular coaching by Hallé players. Classical symphonic music is the force that unites this group, and working collectively towards public concerts will give the members a common goal and a real sense of achievement. Some members are being supported to transfer to an orchestral instrument for the first time.
The Hallé Harmony Youth Orchestra has given two sell-out public performances, at the Martin Harris Centre at the University of Manchester on Friday 7 August 2009 and at the Royal Northern College of Music on Saturday 5 December 2009.
The experiences of the members are being filmed by Diverse Productions for three documentary-style programmes, due to be broadcast by Channel 4 in 2010. The programmes will document the shared journey of the Hallé Harmony Youth Orchestra from audition through to their final public concert and demonstrate how music has the power to transform lives, unite communities and effect social change.
This is a Hallé and Diverse Productions project which is supported by the Arts Council England, Channel 4 and the local authorities of Bolton, Manchester City, Oldham and Stockport.
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James Lowe
James Lowe is the Music Director of the Hallé Harmony Youth Orchestra, and between 2004 and 2007 was the Associate Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
After graduating from the University of Edinburgh with a First-Class Honours degree in music, he began studying conducting in a series of master classes with Finnish pedagogue Jorma Panula. In 2001, he was invited to be the Benjamin Zander Conducting Fellow with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra.
Whilst working with the RSNO as Associate Conductor, James Lowe conducted the orchestra across the entire range of their performing activities, from regional tours to the Last Night of the Scottish Proms and season concerts. He continues his development by working closely with leading conductors in master classes, including Neeme Järvi, Bernard Haitink and latterly with Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra.
One of three finalists in the second BBC Conductors Competition and one of two prizewinners in the Tokyo International Competition for Conductors, he has appeared in performance with the Osaka and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestras, the Residentie Orkest, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Academic Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada, the New Japan Philharmonic and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, as well as working with numerous other orchestras in many European countries, South Africa and the USA.
Recently James Lowe has made debuts with Scottish Ballet, the orchestra of Welsh National Opera, and with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, stepping in at late notice to replace Frans Brüggen.
James Lowe will feature in two upcoming documentaries; The Interpreters, a German film following three young conductors, and The Band following the Hallé Harmony Youth Orchestra, to be shown on Channel 4 in 2011.
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Sinead Hayes
Originally from Galway in Ireland, Sinead Hayes is currently a masters conducting student at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester where she studies with Clark Rundell, Sir Mark Elder and Baldur Bronnimann. She completed her music degree at City University, London in 2008 where she studied composition with Professor Rhian Samuel and violin with Gerhard Schmidt at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She has participated in conducting masterclasses with Jorma Panula, Ovidiu Balan, Peter Stark and Alan Hazeldine.
Sinead is Associate Conductor of the I Maestri Orchestra, London, and, until June 2008 was conductor of the Imperial College String Ensemble, as well as cover conductor for the Dulwich Symphony Orchestra. Since commencing her studies at the RNCM, she has worked with the concert and chamber orchestras, as well as with Warrington Youth Orchestra, Nottingham Philharmonic Orchestra and the Liverpool Mozart Orchestra. Recent performances include Lutoslawski’s Chain I in February 2009 and Webern’s Passacaglia with the RNCM Symphony Orchestra in March 2009.
She is also the Associate Conductor of the Hallé Harmony Youth Orchestra and Principal Conductor of the Rochdale Senior Youth Orchestra. As well as her conducting activities, Sinead has been very involved with Irish music, both as a player and an adjudicator of regional competitions (fleadhanna) in Britain and Ireland for Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann.
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Further information
If you would like any further information, please contact Sally Whittle on sally.whittle@halle.co.uk or on 0161 907 9022.
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