Who has never wondered how a symphony orchestra operates and how it gets ready for a concert, or how folk music ensembles practice and what happens at the rehearsals? In the first half of the two-part concerts, the audience get a glimpse, under the expert guidance of the moderator, into the everyday life of the rehearsal hall, as well as - from the instructions and explanations given and the repeated playing and practising of certain passags - into the musical processes. In the second part of the concert, the performers appear dressed for the stage, or in costume, and the audience will get the chance to see and hear the parts of the programme with which they have just developed a thorough acquaintance in the context of a staged performance.

In 1945, the British Ministry of Education commissioned Benjamin Britten to write music for an educational film aimed at familiarising younger people with the instruments of a symphony orchestra, which Britten divided into four categories: strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. As an introduction, the entire orchestra plays the rondo from Purcell's Abdelazer Suite in its original form, followed by each of the groups of instruments playing it. Then, each instrument plays its own variation on it - with instruments generally only heard in full-sized orchestras also 'getting a say' - until the entire piece ends in a fugue. Inside this quite complicated movement constructed around multiple solos, the instruments enter in the same order that they did during the variations. This work originally written for the purpose of educating children is also a fine occasion for the audience to refresh their knowledge of symphony orchestras and their instruments.

Age: 10-14 year

Presented by: Müpa Budapest