In the community
Shropshire Music Trust’s outreach programme aims to extend the impact of live music beyond the concert hall into schools, community spaces and health and care settings across the county. Through participatory workshops, masterclasses with visiting artists and long-term engagement projects, the Trust connects professional musicians with young people and wider community groups.
A key strand of this work is the Shropshire Music Trust ‘Take it Up!’ programme - an instrumental tuition project in Shropshire schools. The Trust is helping to fill current gaps in music education by funding free music lessons in schools with the greatest need, in partnership with Shropshire Music Service. Children and students also benefit from free tickets at Trust concerts.
Looking ahead, SMT is actively seeking to grow its outreach work further into health and social care settings, recognising the positive impact music can have in these contexts.
World Folk Ensemble on Stage
Shropshire Music Service’s World Folk Ensemble took to the stage as support act for the Budapest Café Orchestra [on 24th April 2026] as part of Shropshire Music Trust's commitment to music outreach in the county.
In collaboration with the Shropshire Music Trust, students of Shropshire Music Service's World Folk Ensemble experienced an evening of world-class music. Established by award-winning British composer, violinist and teach Christian Garrick, the electrifying 4-piece Budapest Café Orchestra performed gypsy and folk-flavoured music, including traditional Balkan, Russian, Hungarian and Romanian tunes, with jazz. Specialists of the ‘distilled concerto’, they artfully rework masterpieces by the greats of the Romantic era. Not so much a band name as a whole genre of its own!
World Folk Ensemble students presented a 20-minute set as support act to the main headliners, which gave them a fantastic opportunity to hone their stagecraft skills and then learn from the masters. Performing at the Blackburn Theatre, Prestfelde School, students took to the stage in front of a packed audience. Thanks to the support of Shropshire Music Trust, students were then able to take their own place in the audience and watch the full set from the Budapest Café Orchestra.
Caroline Nowotarski, leader of the World Folk Ensemble, described the opportunity as ‘valuable experience’ for the students, remarking ‘it was definitely a different feeling to be supporting such a great band in front of a packed audience.’
