DESCRIPTION:
CoMA (Contemporary Music for All) is at the heart of new music and was founded in 1993 with the sole aim of enabling musicians of all abilities to participate actively in contemporary music making. The Oldham Youth Contemporary Music Group took part in a concert celebrating the 21st anniversary of CoMA at St John's Smith Square in London on October 25th. This superb hall is ideal for chamber music concerts and is also a well-respected recording venue used by many of the leading classical record companies.

The Oldham Youth Contemporary Music Group, based in the Oldham Music Centre, has previously performed at the National Festival of Music for Youth in Birmingham twice and by invitation at the conference of the Federation of Music Services. The group has performed regularly at Gallery Oldham and as part of Sonic Fusion 2014 at Islington Mill, Salford.
The ensemble that performed at the St John's Smith Square concert is a special project band comprising the Youth Group, Music Centre adult learners and former members of the Youth Group who were welcomed back for the date. It's a unique & very exciting 16 piece band combining orchestral wind, saxophones, strings & electric guitars. The band was conducted by its regular musical director, Simon Prince.

The concert included:
HOT BLAST Rudzinski
PARTIAL RECOVERY Diamond Luke Barlow
MELANCHOLIA Naomi Pinnock
plus two special fanfares composed for the day by Philip Cashian & Howard Skempton.

Director of Music for Oldham, Gerard Booth, commented: “The whole day was a genuine, action-packed celebration of Contemporary music making in the unique English Baroque surroundings of St John's. It also marked the Music Centre’s affiliation to CoMA. Our young people put in a tremendous performance and Simon Prince is justifiably very proud of their achievements.”