Adopt-a-Player has been conceived to introduce children, mainly from inner-city primary schools, to the Hallé by offering them the opportunity to attend a Hallé concert at The Bridgewater Hall.

For many of the children this will be their first experience of attending a concert and visiting the hall, which is one of the UK’s finest music venues. Adopt-a-Player takes place each term within one of the ten Greater Manchester boroughs, involving students from a high school and three of its feeder primaries, focusing on establishing closer connections between the schools and encouraging the continuation of music during the transition from primary to secondary education.

As well as the concert visit, each school will receive several creative workshops from its ‘adopted’ player who will help the pupils create their own version of a piece they will hear at the Hallé concert. Some of our previous projects have explored Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony and ‘Vltava’ from Smetana’s suite, Má Vlast. Hallé musicians are occasionally accompanied by young musicians on the String Leadership Training Scheme and undergraduates at the University of Manchester.