Skip to main content

Ears Wide Open is a unique music journey where MSO Cellist and Cybec Assistant Conductor, Nicholas Bochner deconstructs famous classical pieces so that you understand the context, history and story behind well-known works. You will get into the mind of the composer, will hear the musicians perform what is being explained, and you will deep dive into the pieces.

This series of four episodes is perfect for online or classroom learning for secondary school music students. These episodes are designed to assist teachers to engage students while delivering high-quality, curriculum-linked lessons.

Each lesson includes:

  • An online video
  • A downloadable resource, and
  • A curated playlist. These are excellent for engaging students while delivering high-quality, curriculum-linked lessons – perfect for online learning or in the classroom.

Ears Wide Open: Beethoven Symphony No.7

Never before had rhythm been given such a fundamental role in Beethoven’s music – it generates the symphony’s structure, melodic and harmonic gestures and its powerful rhetoric.

Teaching resource

Beethoven Symphony No.7

Download

Listen to the Playlist

Ears Wide Open: Sir Andrew Davis’ Messiah

Since its triumphant premiere in Dublin in 1742, Messiah has remained Handel’s most frequently performed work. In 2019 The MSO presented a new orchestration of this beloved work, arranged by our previous Chief Conductor, Sir Andrew Davis.

Teaching resource

Messiah

Download

Listen to the Playlist

Ears Wide Open: Scheherazade

Great Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov lays the foundations for this bright, colourful and gorgeously textured evocation of the exotic.

Teaching resource

Scheherezade

Download

Listen to the Playlist

Stay tuned. Sign up.