8 British Suzuki Gala Concert, UK 2023 Helen Brunner disability, gender and nationality. The young musicians rehearsed together for only one day, next door to the RAH at the Royal College of Music. At least half of them did not speak English, but our Suzuki teachers know how to lead without words, and the results were electrifying. Stage management was nothing short of miraculous. The RAH creates a custom stage for every new client and our team were on site with the builders at 5am on the day of the concert. Tech rehearsals began at 9am, making space for a Steinway concert grand, 1,300 children, 300 adults, 20 pianos, and 20 orchestral players. Some of the programme was instrument-specific, such as the Bach double violin concerto, Massenet’s MéditaƟon and the Mendelssohn concerto for violin, the Haydn concerto for cello, and Mozart’s Rondo alla turca for piano. Some of it was played tuƫ, with the music arranged by the amazing Timothy Murray for all our instruments to play together. Tim was also commissioned to compose a new Fantasia on ‘Greensleeves’ for the occasion, which was breathtaking. The whole concert was backed by world-class piano accompaniment and a formidable professional string ensemble made up of former Suzuki students. A planned Gala Concert in April 2020 was cancelled at the last minute because of COVID-19. The RAH reimbursed all Ɵckets, then BriƟsh Suzuki had to rebate all the registraƟon fees. We had already organised thousands of Gala 2020, merchandise, expensive soŌware and extra professional administrators and were nearly bankrupted. This Ɵme, we hoped to make a profit, but as a charity that is not our raison d’être. Every single musician, teacher/ leader, compère and helper aƩended without a fee. We had a home-stay scheme for those who wished to stay with Suzuki families, but hundreds of Suzuki teachers paid their own air fares and hospitality. This extraordinary generosity is only possible because of each individual’s graƟtude to their teacher, Dr Shinichi Suzuki, the founder and inspiraƟon behind the Suzuki Method. He changed our lives for ever. His vision was to use music to bring people together and make the world a beƩer place. Personally, I feel incredibly lucky to have been born on the same planet as Suzuki, in his life-Ɵme. Unfortunately, there is sƟll systemic prejudice against the Suzuki Method in our professional schools and conservatoires. One of my own violin students was awarded a place at the Purcell School last year and at her first violin lesson was told, ‘we don’t have anything like Suzuki here. We regard the Suzuki Method as
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