Asda premieres UK’s first Supermarket Symphony
BBC Philharmonic to play new composition at superstore
March 10 2003
Taking in-store ambience to new levels. Asda has co-commissioned a brand new piece of music, which will be premiered next month at its superstore in Harpurhey, Manchester.
In a partnership between the Wal-Mart owned UK supermarket operator, BBC Philharmonic and Manchester’s North City Arts, composer Barry Russell has created an opus that will be performed on traditional instruments along with items from the supermarket shelves.
The Supermarket Symphony will be performed in-store for the first time on Thursday, April 10. Twenty musicians from the Manchester-based BBC Philharmonic will be joined by 70 local people, schoolchildren and Asda colleagues, whose instruments will include pan lids, food baskets, wooden spoons, packets of cereal, shopping trolleys, yoghurt pots filled with pasta and pulses, and tin cans fashioned into cowbells.
The contribution of the Asda staff, local people and schoolchildren will be developed through a series of workshops with composer Russell.
This work is part of the Pop Up Project devised by North City Arts, which presents exciting and unusual arts events in unexpected places. The Supermarket Symphony continues a three year partnership between North City Arts and the BBC Philharmonic, which will culminate in an outdoor concert in Manchester’s Queens Park in 2005.
Richard Grossick of North City Arts says: “The Pop Up Project is all about people being able to take part in a cultural experience with a difference. This can be a stepping stone to taking part in may other ways in the regeneration of North Manchester. The support of the BBC Philharmonic is making this experience invaluable to the area and very special to the people taking part.”
Phil Rogers, manager of the Asda superstore at Harpurhey said: “We’re excited and thrilled that Britain’s first Supermarket Symphony will take place in our aisles. We’ve always hoped that we hit the right note with our customers – now’s our chance to prove it with great entertainment, fully involving our local community.”
Asda hopes to broadcast the premiere of the Supermarket Symphony on its in-store radio station, enabling all 258 UK stores can enjoy the performance.
