Our students commitment to looking after others, thinking of and working on behalf of those less privileged, in essence our value of “caring”, is present in many of the activities in which they take part, sports, social or artistic activities. In this vein, the British Council School Choir, lent their talents and joined the the call of Director Ramón Torrelledó to create a charity symphony orchestra. The Dreamers in White Concert at the National Auditorium brought together 90 musicians and 600 voices to raise funds for those with mental disabilities through Down Madrid and the APSA Association (Alicante).
Impressive falls short of the mark when describing the event which was organised by the Gmp Foundation. Everybody dressed in white, adding to the synergy, musicians and choral singers from different backgrounds all singing with one voice and led by the expert baton of Torrelledó. The Dreamers Charity Orchestra is made up of 90 musicians (five soloists: Diego de Santiago on double bass, Paula Sastre as first violin, Carla Román and Teresa de la Escalera on piano and Diego Fernández on percussion) and more than 600 singers from 17 choirs, including the British Council School.
Director, composer, musical interpreter, arranger and promoter Ramón Torrelledó has held important positions in various orchestras such as the Bucharest Philarmonic, the Moscow Orchestra, the Cairo Opera and the European Concert Orchestra, amongst others. The maestro also stands out for his Charity work and his determination to take Music to all kinds of venues: factories, jails, hospitals...
Under his expert baton, the dream volunteers, professional musicians, amateurs, students, street musicians, and disabled performers, put together a magnificent and varied programme. In the first half, from renditions of Lennon´s ‘Woman’ and Antonio Flores´ ‘No dudaría’ to carols such as ‘In excelsis Deo’ and Elgar´s march Pomp and Circumstance 1, moving onto Spanish Symphony by Eduardo Lalo, Concert for Double Bass by Koussevitzky and Khachaturian´s Mask Waltz.
In the second half, Haydn´s, Concert for Piano and Orchestra, Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini, from Rachmaninov, Christmas Dreams, Suite for Variety Orchestra by Shostakovich, “Stand by me” and ‘Do, Re, Mi’ from the Sound of Music. Arrangements by the Venezuelan composer Jesús González. The soloists were the tenor Adrián Inastrillas Bueno, the Venezuelan tenor Johann Sebastian Salvatori Fois and the soprano Felicidad Farag from Valencia.
We still do not have a final figure for funds raised, but the 2018 Dreamers Concert collected a total of 39.810,54 which were put towards early action for mentally disabled children from disadvantaged families.
It is an honour and a great pleasure for the School to be able to contribute to such a cause in what was an unforgettable Concert.