EUROPEAN music lovers are in for a treat when 80 young musicians leave their native Teesside next week to perform on the wider stage of Poland and Germany.
The youngsters, aged 14 to 19, are all members of the Tees Valley Youth Orchestra and Tees Valley Youth Choir, which come under the auspices of the Tees Valley Music Service.
During their eight-day millennium tour, the youngsters will give concerts in Worclaw, Brzeg, Krakow and Rabka, in Poland, and Dresden, in Germany.
The trip has been made possible thanks to grants from Tees Valley TEC, via the Cleveland Community Foundation and the Friends of Tees Valley Youth Orchestra.
The tour represents an opportunity to launch a newly commissioned piece of music, which has been composed by Geoffrey Palmer, a teacher with Tees Valley Music Service, a distinguished composer whose music receives performances on Radio 3.
His latest piece has a local flavour as it follows the River Tees, from its source to the sea through a historical journey of time.
David Kendall, head of service at Tees Valley Music Service, said: "At a time when music is being squeezed to the margins of the curriculum it is crucial that young people can continue to develop their musical talents through other channels.
"The tour will enable this group of youngsters to do just that, as well as providing them with an opportunity to develop their knowledge of life and culture in other parts of Europe."
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