Music Man Project Fundraising Concert

Join us for an evening of music performed by the Music Man Project. This fundraising concert will see proceeds go towards both the Down’s Syndrome Association and the amazing work carried out by the Music Man Project.

Saturday 26th October at 6pm

The Music Man Project is a multi-award-winning international music education and performance service for people with learning disabilities. It was founded by the Government’s Disability and Access Ambassador for Arts and Culture, David Stanley BEM. In 1999, David met a young adult with Downs Syndrome called Tony. As a musician studying at Kings College London and the Royal Academy of Music, David decided to explore how Tony might respond to his music. He started with “I am the Music Man” but Tony soon requested his favourite song: “The 12 Days of Christmas”. 14 renditions later, David and Tony collapsed in fits of laughter. It was the middle of July after all!

The transformative effect of David’s music led him to teach a small group of people with learning disabilities. David promised his students that one day they would play the Royal Albert Hall. It was a joke that became a dream, that became an ambition and then David’s obsession. 20 years later, David presented 200 children and adults with learning disabilities from across the UK in a ground-breaking concert at the Royal Albert Hall. It was the UK’s largest ever celebration of accessible music-making, supported by symphony orchestra, massed choirs and celebrity guests. It took two decades for David to fulfil his promise. He battled prejudice, ignorance and barriers to opportunity on behalf of this once-forgotten society.

The Music Man Project is now a global beacon of accessible Arts and Culture and its musicians are role models for their community, capable of entertaining audiences in their thousands at the world’s most prestigious performance venues. David’s musicians have performed to members of the Royal Family, entertained thousands in original productions at the London Palladium and Royal Albert Hall, featured on TV and radio, broken a Guinness World Record, opened a national TV advert and performed at 10 Downing Street.

The Music Man Project established a ground-breaking partnership with His Majesty’s Band of the Royal Marines in 2022 to connect elite military musicians and people with learning-disabilities through the universal language of music. Their collaboration so far includes a top-10 Christmas single called “Music is Magic”, a performance at the Mountbatten Festival of Music at the Royal Albert Hall in front of the King, a UK concert tour of 5 Cities and numerous other joint engagements.

In April this year The Music Man Project returned to the Royal Albert Hall for another spectacular show, this time featuring 250 Music Man Project students accompanied by the Royal Marines, with a special guest appearance by their patron, Michael Ball. In June, The Music Man Project Ambassadors performed at the Nova Scotia Military Tattoo in Canada and in September they presented a joint concert in Milan with Italian charity, Allegro Moderato.

The Music Man Project heralds a step-change from disabled consumers of culture to talented creative artists who show what they can do rather than what they need. The charity has established regional Music Man Projects across the UK and David has travelled to South Africa, India, Nepal, the Philippines and the USA to help other communities start their own versions of his original service – providing his original music, resources and performance opportunities for free. For more information, visit www.themusicmanproject.com

Tickets: £10.00
Doors: Doors will open at 5pm.
Performance: Curtain up 6pm. The concert is split in two halves lasting 50 minutes each.

Booking: Tickets are only available to book through our website.

Bar: The bar will be open for an hour before the performance and during the interval.

Parking: There is very limited parking available at Normansfield Theatre for performances. Free parking is available on Kingston Road and adjoining roads. The Theatre is serviced by plenty of public transport.Please respect our neighbours by leaving quietly after the performance has ended.