Sutton Music Trust (SMT) strives to provide a range of opportunities for all students, and partnering with external organisations is one of the ways we achieve this. Read all about our recent partnership below!
On Sunday 1st February 2026, students from SMT and Wilson’s School took part in an exciting day of music-making with The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire LEAP Ensemble. Players from the LEAP Ensemble travelled down via coach at 6am to Sutton for a full day of creative collaboration and got stuck straight in with fun warmups to engage all the students.
Students then split off into sectional groups to begin learning the pieces and eventually came together as a full orchestra for a massed rehearsal.
86 instrumental and vocal students from SMT and Wilson’s took part in learning 7 incredible (and challenging!) pieces all in one day, performing them to friends and family in a sharing session, complete with light effects and projections!
Throughout the day, students developed their performance skills in preparing brand new repertoire and coming together as an ensemble. Repertoire included famous hits such as Running Up That Hill (Kate Bush), The Final Countdown (Europe) and Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen), alongside more traditional music such as Toreador from Carmen.
“This was a deeply positive, impactful and high-quality day of music-making with the LEAP Ensemble. Our young musicians worked hard throughout the day and should be very proud of their playing. Sutton Music Trust is committed to providing a variety of performance opportunities and experiences for our students and we are delighted to have established this new partnership with the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire to make the playing day happen. We are very grateful to everyone involved who helped create such a brilliant and memorable day.”
A huge thank you to The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire for partnering with us on this amazing project, and for inspiring our young musicians, and thank you to staff and students from the LEAP Ensemble for their enthusiasm and hard work.
Thank you to SMT tutors, Anastasia, Richard J, Richard LD, and Samuel for joining us for the day and assisting students.
Our thanks also go to thank you to Wilson’s School for hosting us for the day.
#MakeMusicWithUs
