Different Voices (2006)

Different Voices combines music and narration to tell a magical tale and to introduce the listener to the diverse sections of the orchestra. When a beautiful park is threatened by an evil developer, the different groups of children who use the park (represented by the strings, percussion, brass and woodwind), come together in harmony to save their precious place. The piece is similar in ambition to Benjamin Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, first performed over sixty years ago. Different Voices is intended to reach a wide family audience and interest young people in the magic of the orchestral sound through storytelling and music.

Award-winning composer Debbie Wiseman writes:

“It was a wonderful opportunity to be asked to compose a piece which introduces the sections of the orchestra to young people in a way that is relevant to them today. I love Benjamin Britten’s piece, but it’s been performed so many times now, and this was a chance to write something new and fresh for the orchestra. It was also great fun to work with Hayley Westenra and Don Black on the Different Voices song. The song is threaded through the work and at the end of the piece the listener will hear it in all its glory with the excitement of the full orchestra!”