Making Music: Portrait Cards, Right

Name

Georgina Blanchard Occupation Trainee nurse Instrument Flute Member of South London Symphonic Winds Member for 4.5 months Making music together is... I like making music with others because it gives an opportunity for me to meet and mix with people I never normally would. Roles and responsibilities from everyday life are left at the door and I get an opportunity to have a creative outlet.

Photographer

Mike Massaro

Name David Smith Occupation Police officer Instrument Singer Member of Hertfordshire Chorus Member for 5 years Making music together is... The enjoyment of making a variety of sounds and meeting so many different people.

Photographer

Mike Massaro

Name Helen Mabelis Occupation Fulltime mum Instrument Cello Member of London Medical Orchestra Member for 2 years Making music together is... It gets me out the house! I signed up for the orchestra 8 weeks after the birth of my second child. I hadn’t played in an orchestra since I’d left university and had barely touched my cello for years.

It was fantastic to get out, meet new people and get back into something I’d always found hugely rewarding.

Photographer

Mike Massaro

Name Dimitri Chrysostomou Occupation Shop assistant/PA Instrument Conductor Member of South London Symphonic Winds Member for 5 months Making music together is... Music brings together people from all walks of life. Any musical ensemble is a real cross-section of society all working towards one thing, and I think this kind of unity is something very important in today’s increasingly polarised world.

Photographer

Mike Massaro

Name Catherine Nguyen Occupation Therapist Instrument Violin Member of Amati Orchestra Member for 1 year Making music together is... Making music with others lights up my day. It makes me feel at home. It’s my family. Music has the power to reunite people. It’s the language of our emotions, using rhythms, vibrations, resonances. No words needed. When we reach harmony in creating music together we create harmony in our minds and in ourselves. It is deeply healing, you have to experience it.

Photographer

Mike Massaro