High school student plays Royal Albert Hall at Music for Youth Proms

Few people have not watched The Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London on TV, but student Ben Chadwick got to play on the stage.

Guitarist Ben, and violinist Erin Croke, both from Rochdale, won the chance to be one of just 20 acts at the Music for Youth Proms two-day celebration event.

Ben, 15, from Whitworth Community High School, and Erin, 16, who is studying at the prestigious Cheetham’s School of Music in Manchester, met when they started a folk group at Rochdale Music Service.

They both live in Rochdale and in January they entered the Todmorden Folk Festival as a guitar and violin duo Chords and Fiddles and won.

Ben said: “We then decided to enter Music for Youth Proms to see how far they could get, but we never expected to win.

“In Music for Youth there were different heats across the country and we went to the one in Huddersfield. It was held in a big school and there were different categories. We then won through to the heat at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.

“There were lots of bands there, 30 to 40, and we had to do four songs for each audition.”

Ben and Erin were picked to go through to the two-day national final which is a celebration of music at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Judges decided for the duo’s seven-minute performance, they would do their own composition – Sunsets and the Last Night of the Proms classic Sailor’s Hornpipe – Proms founder Henry Wood’s Hornpipe from Fantasia on British Sea Songs.

The foot tapping, hand clapping, knee bending shanty is always a huge hit with audiences and Erin and Ben’s performance was no different.

Chairs had been removed from the centre of the circular Royal Albert Hall and a central stage had been added. The performers all played to an audience that gathered all around them.

Ben said: “When we did the sound check both of us were shaking with nerves, but our first song Sunsets went well.

“As soon as we started playing the second one, the response from the audience was incredible and they were immediately clapping along. It definitely lifted our performance.”

The Music for Youth Proms showcases brilliant young musicians and groups from across the whole of the UK.

Held on November 27 and 28, each night more than 1,500 young musicians performed on the stage from small ensembles, like Ben and Erin, to large choirs and bands.