A HUDDERSFIELD music group for deaf youngsters has received an award from the world’s largest youth music festival.
The Hi-Notes Ensemble has received a New Group Composition award at the 2008 National Festival of Music for Youth.
The group is made up of 20 youngsters aged nine to 16, who all have hearing loss. Some members are profoundly deaf.
They travelled from West Yorkshire to Birmingham last week to perform their piece, entitled Tutankhamen’s Curse, as part of a six-day celebration involving 10,000 young performers from across the UK.
The piece was inspired by the story of archaeologist Howard Carter and his discovery of the Egyptian pharoah’s tomb.
Hi-Notes Ensemble was set up specifically to work on a project for the festival by Huddersfield organisation Music and the Deaf.
Danny Lane, musical director and a profoundly deaf music graduate, said: “I may not access music in the same way as hearing people do, but it has the same impact on me as much as everyone else.
“It gives me enormous pride to see the Hi-Notes group reach the next level of the National Festival and perform alongside hearing musicians.”
