Teenagers unite As One 

We are launching As One to connect young people across the UK by inspiring them to pick up an instrument and play music together. The project will be brought to life by musicians from The National Youth Orchestra at schools, music hubs, across social media and in concert halls across the country.

As One celebrates ten years of NYO Inspire, a programme that has provided musical opportunities to thousands of young people who face barriers to making music a bigger part of their lives. In July, musicians from NYO Inspire will embark on a national schools tour for the first time.

In a groundbreaking moment and for the first time in our history, we will welcome aspiring musicians from across the UK, including 100 young people from NYO Inspire, to join the performance at this year’s BBC Proms on Saturday 10 August 2024. Together with conductor Tess Jackson, they will perform As One, which forms part of a new work by our Resident Artist, Dani Howard. 

We will work with local music hubs and schools to nominate teenagers to perform alongside NYO musicians at the BBC Proms. Members of the 160-person Orchestra will play their part sharing the joy of live performance at primary schools in their local community.

Alongside on-the-ground engagements, the NYO community will take to social media to bring a specially composed melody to life. The melody of the summer will be composed by Dani Howard. The NYO musicians will share their interpretations of the As One melody across TikTok and Instagram and invite other young people to pick up an instrument and play along, in their own unique way. Keep your eyes peeled for this as it comes to life across July.