ECCO Concert - Voces Festival 2024

Established by Musiko Musika in 2009, and based at the Lyric Hammersmith the is a strong and powerful musical ensemble and community that gives artistic expression to children, young people and their families from diverse social and cultural backgrounds, and is a beacon of what a diverse community can be and achieve when people are empowered to work together. Rooted in, but not constrained by tradition, the ECCO is based on the concept of a classical orchestra but reaches far beyond it in terms of instrumentation, repertoire and approach and incorporates music technology alongside acoustic and electro-acoustic instruments. The parents and families of the young musicians are also directly involved in the project, singing and playing in the ensemble alongside their children, and having a key role in connecting the project culturally to the diverse communities of the families.

This concert is presented as part of the Festival Voces Chilenas y Latinoamericanas en Gran Bretaña 2024 – Chilean and Latin American Voices in the UK

Directed by the London-based Chilean musician, composer and producer Mauricio Venegas-Astorga the Festival Voces is a festival of music and poetry that celebrates Chilean & Latin American culture in the UK, its collaborations and influence on the music and culture of this country.

The Voces Festival is produced and presented by Musiko Musika and Tatu Music.

Quimantu has always had a social and cultural mission that extends beyond the band’s work in creating, performing, and recording music. In 1998 that mission took shape as a new organisation – Musiko Musika – an organisation that could work in parallel to Quimantu, reaching further than the band could alone, engaging children, young people, families and the community with music as a powerful agent for social change, as a tool for increasing our understanding of each other, and as means of giving creative and cultural expression to our lives.

To achieve this Musiko Musika designs, develops and delivers innovative music projects, programmes, and events with a social and cultural impact including creative & instrumental workshops, ensembles, training, family learning, audio and video content and publications. We mostly work with children, young people, families, education practitioners and musicians, particularly of the Global Majority and socio-economically challenged backgrounds. Jointly directed by the musicians Mauricio Venegas-Astorga and Rachel Pantin we are funded by Arts Council England as a National Portfolio Organisation and are a partner at the Lyric Hammersmith.

There are two main strands to Musiko Musika's programme of work. The World Music Academy provides world music programmes including the Voces Festival and the ECCO (Ethnic Contemporary Classical Orchestra) ensembles for young people. Sing and Learn projects use music to support the development of strong speech and language skills and other areas of the curriculum including personal, social and emotional development. Digital: Both strands are supported by an extensive digital resource of videos, audio, publications and our apps available for Apple and Android devices (Sing Songo and World Music Academy).

Musiko Musika is funded by Arts Council England as a National Portfolio Organisation.

Host or Publisher Musiko Musika