London Student Orchestra tour Romania performing for Hospice Casa Sperantei

Hospice Casa Sperantei in Romania had the great pleasure of being able to put on a series of concerts in both Brasov and Bucharest performed by the Imperial College Sinfonietta and Big Band.

 

Months of organising by Daniel Capps (Organiser and Sinfonietta conductor), Steph Wong (tour manager) and staff at Hospice Casa Sperantei in both Bucharest and Brasov were finally going to come to fruition. The first concert was in Brasov’s Raduta Centre, where the Big Band performed Jazz and Blues hits including ‘I got you under my skin’. A few nights later, they headed down to Bucharest to perform at the Annual Volvo Golf tournament. The Sinfonietta’s opening concert was in Brasov’s Military Hall, where they performed Schubert's Mass in G, Elgar's Enigma Variations and one of Wagner's preludes. A few days later they performed at the invitation-only concert at the Cotroceni Museum.

 

On top of these performances, a few students from the Big Band guided by John Bailey headed to one of Brasov’s busiest streets to perform for passers-by with Hospice volunteers selling tickets and collecting donations alongside them. They then performed on the stage in Brasov’s popular Irish bar to a packed crowd.

 

During the week, the Hospice day centre had the pleasure of musical entertainment provided by a group of students. Patients who are treated at home can attend Casa Sperantei’s day centre and for this week were treated to a variety of music. Many in-patients were also brought in to listen to the talented students.

 

One of the highlights of the week outside of the performances was the opportunity for 15 students to visit the children in the care of the hospice (both in-patients and home-care) who were spending the week at the Harghita Christian Camp. The group, which was organised by student Hilary Wood, provided a small performance for the children, their parents and Hospice staff and also ran an interactive session with percussion instruments for the children to join in with and did a range of dances for everyone.

 

The Imperial College students all self-funded themselves or found sponsorship to cover the tour and performed for free so Hospice Casa Sperantei could benefit from the proceeds of their fundraising activities.