The London College of Music, part of the University of West London (UWL), is launching a new partnership with the English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) to create an Ensemble-in-Residence made up from leading members of the orchestra.

This partnership will offer UWL’s talented classical music students the unrivalled opportunity to work closely with ECO musicians in performance and composition workshops. Students will participate in side-by-side rehearsals and orchestral coaching, benefitting from a series of eight master classes given by the orchestra’s musicians.

Additionally, the London College of Music (LCM) will run a series of eight workshops for musicians in the early stages of dementia led by ECO musicians and LCM students in partnership with Arts 4 Dementia. There will also be two lunchtime concerts as part of LCM’s “Celebrity Recitals” series given by members of the ECO at the University’s Lawrence Hall in Ealing. Information about all LCM Live events can be found by visiting www.uwl.ac.uk/lcmlive.

The English Chamber Orchestra is the most recorded chamber orchestra in the world, its discography containing 860 recordings of over 1,500 works by more than 400 composers. The ECO has performed in more countries than any other orchestra, and played with many of the world’s greatest musicians. The illustrious history of the orchestra features many major musical figures. Benjamin Britten was the orchestra’s first Patron and a significant musical influence, and the American radio network CPRN describes ECO as, “one of the world’s greatest ‘living’ orchestras”.