We are delighted to announce that Jo Boswell has succeeded Simon Smith as Chair of Trustees. Jo is a fantastic addition to the AMP board, and has the ideal background and experience to help guide Apollo Music Projects in the next exciting stage of our development."It is a privilege to step up to the role of Chair of Apollo Music Projects. In the short time that I’ve been involved with the charity I’ve been hugely impressed with the impact the programme has had on the schools involved, as well as the dedication of the small team involved in running this. There is a wealth of knowledge and experience on the trustee board, and I look forward to working with them and the Apollo team as we expand our reach to more schools and children. I would like to pay tribute to retiring trustees, Simon Smith and Peter Brunner, who have both played an important role in the charity’s expansion journey so far."

We want to say a huge Thank You to two Trustees who are stepping down from the AMP board. Simon Smith has been a fantastic Chair and Trustee for the past three years, and will be greatly missed for his clear thinking and passion for what we do. Peter Brunner has been a Trustee for 7 years, and has helped guide us from the small charity he joined to the thriving organisation he leaves. Many many thanks to both."I remain as passionate about what Apollo does and achieves as the day I started, which makes stepping down hard. But having worked with my successor as Chair, the incumbent Trustees and interviewed both new Trustees I know Apollo has the right leadership and Trustees to support the next stage of its journey." Simon Smith"I am certain that Apollo, under your guidance, has a very bright future, in whichever direction it expands, and I look forward to supporting it as a friend over the years to come. There cannot be many similar charities with such an excellent and committed  board of trustees." Peter Brunner

We are delighted to announce our first primary school in Brent, Salusbury Primary School. It is part of our exciting programme for 2019-20, including 23 primary and special schools returning to the programme and 5 further schools new to the programme. Other schools joining this year are Morningside, Gayhurst and Kingsmead primary schools in Hackney and St. Luke's CE and St. Margaret's primary schools in Camden. We still have a few places remaining for new schools, so please contact us if you are interested in taking part.

A wonderful occasion as Braimah and Konya Kanneh-Mason, our newest Apollo Associate Artists, visited London Fields Primary School to play to KS2, including Year 4 Kanneh-Mason class! The children were understandably thrilled at meeting their heroes and were an amazing audience. The children wrote delightful letters to Braimah and Konya: "You have made me as happy as I can be. I thought music wasn't my thing, but when I saw you, you inspired me so now I want to do piano and violin." Thanks to both wonderful artists for an amazing and inspiring afternoon.

We are pleased to announce that Jo Boswell has accepted the role of Vice Chair. Jo brings a wealth of knowledge into the team and is a keen amateur musician herself. We very much look forward to using Jo's expertise to expand the reach of Apollo Music Projects.

We are inviting schools who are not currently participating in our programme to come and see us in action! A special concert designed for school children in Key Stage 2 will take place on Tuesday 11th June 2019 at 13.30. The concert will be at Hackney Empire, a beautiful venue in East London and will last one hour.

If you are a teacher or parent from a school which you feel would benefit from the experience of seeing a full symphony orchestra perform, do get in touch! We want everyone to be able to experience the excitement of hearing an inspiring concert of music by Schumann and Mendelssohn in a prestigious concert hall. Tickets are being offered at the subsidised cost of £2 per ticket. Don’t miss this amazing opportunity for your pupils to see and hear a live orchestra in concert at Hackney Empire!

"A once in a lifetime experience that really changes your mind about music.”  Year 5 pupil, Ambler Primary School, Islington

“The students in my class who play instruments seemed to find it inspiring, but it was those with no background in music and those who had never encountered musicians before who got the most out of this. They may never have the opportunity again.” Year 5 teacher, Tetherdown Primary School, Haringey

If you are interested, we would be thrilled to have you join us. If you would like more information or to reserve places, please contact Csenge Herman (Company & Schools Administrator) by emailing csenge@apollomusicprojects.org or phone Apollo Music Projects on 020 8986 4101.

We are now finalising our list of participating schools for 2019-20, and have a few places left. We look forward to adding more schools next year, with several new schools already signed up to start in September. If you are interested in joining the Apollo programme, please get in touch, or if you know of a school that would. be interested please pass on the details. Next year will be our most ambitious yet, with 30 primary school places on offer.

We are delighted to announce that our Schools Administrator Oliver Pashley has been appointed as Sub-Principal Clarinet with the wonderful Britten Sinfonia. A fantastic job and well-deserved. Sadly this means that Oli will not be able to continue as Apollo Schools Administrator. He has been a great member of our team, and a pleasure to work with. We wish him all success in his new role. Csenge Herman, our General Administrator will take on the additional role of Schools Administrator later this month, so everything will continue to run smoothly.

We are delighted to be starting this year's series of chamber orchestra workshops for children taking part in our programmes. The first of eight workshops will take place at the wonderful Great Hall, Leyton on Tuesday 5 February. The programme will feature music by Bach, Mozart, Piazzolla and The Simpsons Theme, and the children will have the opportunity to meet the musicians and see the instruments up close. Further workshops will take place at The Dream Centre, Tottenham and Regent Hall (Salvation Army), Oxford Street. Please contact us for further information, or if you would like to attend as an observer.

On 18 January the Secretary of State for Culture, Jeremy Wright, made a speech about the importance and value of the arts.‘… engagement with the arts is linked with higher happiness and self-esteem in young people, helping them to foster feelings of personal pride and achievement.’

We have only one place remaining on this year's Apollo programme for primary schools. If you are interested in finding out more, or know of a school in North or East London that would like to take part, please contact us. Don't miss this amazing opportunity to introduce your children to the magic of live music with classroom sessions, chamber orchestra workshop and full symphony orchestra in concert!

David Chernaik, AMP conductor and CEO, rehearsing and talking about the orchestra as part of a documentary shown on French TV on 6 January.

Séquence chef d'Orchestre from David Chernaik on Vimeo.

This year's Grow Your Tenner campaign has now launched and will run until the match funding is fully allocated or 12am on Thursday the 10th January - whichever comes first.

During this campaign, direct debit donations are being matched by up to £10 for 6 months. After six initial donations, the following six donations will be matched. Anyone who makes a regular donation of £10/month will receive £60 in match funding. With Gift Aid as well, this means that your donation of £120 will be worth £210 in the first year.

It is a special campaign for regular donations which are extremely important to our work.

The match fund pot of £100,000 is rapidly being taken up by supporters of charities from all walks of life, so please don’t delay your contribution which will make a huge difference to the children who gain so much from our projects.

Many thanks for your kind help!

A big THANK YOU to everyone who donated during the Big Give Christmas Challenge! We reached our target of £10,000, all of which has been matched, giving us a total of £21,850 (with Gift Aid)! We are so grateful to our supporters who help us in our important work.

These are the final hours of the Big Give Christmas Challenge 2018! We have nearly raised all the funds we would need to DOUBLE all donations. Just another £672 and we will be one of the charities who can proudly thank to all our donors for their amazing support. Will you be the one who can give that extra little bit to make our wish come true? Please donate now and help us complete this challenge on a high note.

We have had an amazing response from our supporters and have almost reached our target that was set for The Big Give Christmas Challenge 2018. However, the next 24 hours is a crucial time for us and  would like your help to make this all happen by raising an additional sum of £2,312 that is needed to DOUBLE all donations. Please reach out to friends and family and ask them to support our cause.

Thanks to the generosity of our supporters we have raised a substantial amount on the first day of The Big Give Christmas Challenge. Please keep encouraging your friends and family to help us raise another £8,390 in online donations in order to use our match funds by 12pm, Tuesday 4th December.

All donations between 12pm (midday) Tues 27th November & 12pm (midday) Tues 4th December will be DOUBLED thanks to the generosity and support of The Childhood Trust and Pauline & Ian Howat.

Target for donations £10,000.