The Orchestra of The Yehudi Menuhin School

“A society is mistaken which dimisses song and dance from the school curriculum because in doing so it deprives its members from the elements which are essential to the physical and moral growth of a child.” - Yehudi Menuhin

The Yehudi Menuhin School was founded in 1963 and has had a flourishing string orchestra for most it’s 46 years. Yehudi Menuhin considered it as a vital part of the musical education offered to these exceptionally gifted young musicians, and he himself often directed the ensemble. Indeed he gave his last performance with the orchestra in Paris at UNESCO just weeks before his death.

Since 1998, Malcolm Singer, the School’s Director of Music has conducted the orchestra in many concerts both in the United Kingdom and on tour abroad. It performs regularly at the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, Switzerland. Many very distinguished musicians besides Lord Menuhin have worked with the orchestra. The school’s second president, Mstislav Rostropovich conducted the orchestra both in the Royal Albert Hall and at the opening concert of The Menuhin Hall; Andras Schiff directed the ensemble from the keyboard in concert at the Sheldonian in Oxford, and in 2007 Vladimir Ashkenazy conducted the orchestra at La Foce, Tuscany in a programme of Mozart and Dvorak.

Other soloists who have played with the orchestra in recent years include Jeremy Menuhin, Nikolai Schneider, Julian Lloyd Webber, Pascal Roget, Tasmin Little, Dora Schwarzberg and the klezmer violinist, Sophie Solomon.