Universal Orchestra is a vision of equity and diversity through music. It is a collaboration between three organisations whose aims are to provide a more inclusive music education, and giving disabled musicians the possibility to create and perform music. These three partners saw the need for more international collaboration, and Universal Orchestra is born…
The Partners
Drake Music Scotland (Edinburgh, Scotland) – www.drakemusicscotland.org
Scotland’s Charity of the year 2019, are Scotland’s leading national organisation whose vision is to transform people’s lives through the power of music. They play a lead role in making Scotland a place where ground-breaking new music featuring skilled musicians and composers with disabilities comes alive for everyone. We reshape the definition of musicians, musical instruments and ensembles, building momentum as the country’s centre of expertise in inclusive music technologies and as an innovator on the international stage.
Since Drake Music Scotland began in 1997, they have created opportunities for over 14,000 disabled people to play, learn, compose and perform music.
Special Music Centre Resonaari (Helsinki, Finland) – www.helsinkimissio.fi
Special Music Centre Resonaari has a music school for people with special needs. Music school offers instrument and band lessons and has 300 pupils. All of them have one or two music lessons per week.
Resonaari is following the Finnish National Curriculum for music schools and has an official music school status in Finland.
Special Music Centre Resonaari has a music school for disabled people, but also does research and development work, produces material, organizes courses and complementary education and keeps up a network for professionals, associations, polytechnics and universities in Finland and abroad.
SKUG Center (Tromsø, Norway) – https://kulturskolentromso.no/INFORMASJON/MUSIKK/SKUG
SKUG Center at the Music School, Tromsø Municipality is a resource center for specially adapted music lessons. By adopting a combination of computer technology , accessibility technology (such as switches ) and music is no limit to who can get lessons at SKUG Center.
Since the project start in 2003 and the opening of SKUG Center in 2007, it has been developed special expertise that is on top with the best in the world and unique in a Norwegian context.
Collaborators
Universal Orchestra’s first collaborators in 2019 are LEAGUS (Tromsø, Norway) – www.leagusband.com
LEAGUS is a contemporary and improvised musical act rooted in a coastal sami tradition. The duo consists of pianist and vocalist Herborg Rundberg and guitarist Kristian Svalestad Olstad.
