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Katy Jones, Executive Producer, Â鶹ԼÅÄ Learning behind the new Ten Pieces project, explains why the Â鶹ԼÅÄ chose to screen a new film about classical music in cinemas.

This week, 100,000 primary-aged children will be going to cinemas across the country to see a new Â鶹ԼÅÄ Music production on the big screen.

The film is the opening fanfare for a 10-month project about classical music and creativity, led by Â鶹ԼÅÄ Learning and the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Performing groups, which will culminate in a major celebration in the summer of 2015.

So why did we decide to launch the project with a cinema release? First and foremost, we wanted to create the sense of a national moment – giving as many children as possible the same starting point during the same week, to kick off a year of creative activities inspired by the music.

Secondly, the cinema is a great alternative to attending a live arts event, as we've seen from the growing popularity of nationwide screenings of opera and theatre. There is an immediate sense of a special event and mass participation. The quality of the sound is fantastic; and the cameras allow the audience to get really close to the action. For many children, it means they will see (perhaps for the first time) exactly how classical music is created.

Thirdly, cinemas are more ubiquitous, and more familiar to children, than concert halls. But we hope that the experience will also provide a stepping-stone for many – and excite children about going to see classical music performed live in the future.

When we ran the pilot for Ten Pieces last October, with 17 schools in London and Manchester, we found that 70% of the children had never been to a classical concert. But even watching Â鶹ԼÅÄ archive of orchestras, rather than specially shot footage, the children were entranced, often surprising their teachers with their enthusiasm. One young boy commented: "I realised that classical music isn’t just for old people who sit in their chairs all the time!". You can see more of their responses in the .

The Ten Pieces film the children are watching this week has been commissioned by Â鶹ԼÅÄ Learning and made for the cinema by Â鶹ԼÅÄ Music Television, in association with the indie Somethin’ Else. The orchestral sections are shot on cinematic cameras and the whole film has been mixed with 5.1 surround sound, so it feels like a proper movie.

The brilliant Â鶹ԼÅÄ National Orchestra of Wales was filmed on location in an aircraft hangar in Cardiff, and directed by Nick Wickham (a legend in the world of rock and roll videos). Along with Director of Photography Brett Turnbull, he has managed to give each piece of music a completely different feel and mood, using stunning lighting and some real 1930s Hollywood techniques (such as reflecting dappled light on the ceiling using broken mirrors during Britten’s Storm from Peter Grimes – perhaps my favourite of all).

The repertoire is introduced by celebrities much-loved by children, in a magical mix of live action and animation. The whole is then woven together into a single narrative by Barney Harwood from Blue Peter, who takes the audience on an exciting journey through the ‘universe of music’.

But we don’t want this just to be a passive viewing experience for children.

The film marks the start of a guided jounrney in which children will feel inspred to get creative themselves, and engage with the music on a completely different level. If you go to the , you’ll find a range of resources to help them to explore and develop their own artistic interpretations of the pieces, along with a list of over 200 music, dance and film organisations that have signed up to champion the project at a local level, and work with schools to develop the children’s creative responses.

Of course, not every child is going to be able to see the film in the cinema. (The vast majority of seats were booked out by teachers many months ago). But we are also making the film available to primary schools on DVD (while stocks last) so they can put on their own screenings in the classroom or hall. And we are giving any venue that wants to screen access to HD copies, provided they don’t charge the audience or the Â鶹ԼÅÄ. Already, lots of organisations have taken up this offer – and there are plans for the film to be screened to families, children and adults with special needs, and indeed whole communities over the coming months. We are keen that as many children as possible across the country get to see it on the biggest screen available.

Katy Jones is Executive Producer, Â鶹ԼÅÄ Learning

• The Ten Pieces film is available on
• Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 3’s Suzy Klein will join Barney Harwood in a in a special celebration of Ten Pieces from Salford
• Ten Pieces also features inÌý with Alison Balsom on Thursday, andÌý

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