Each year Britten Pears Arts brings together over 1,200 performers from schools across the county for a special week-long event called Celebration.

This year, Britten Pears Arts commissioned Composer Amy Bryce to write the Celebration anthem.

Throughout winter 2024–25, Amy visited schools and groups across Suffolk to workshop ideas, prompting creative responses in both lyric-writing, melodies and even Makaton signs.

The workshops were to ensure the messaging in her song captured the thoughts, feelings and ideas of young people who will bring the song to life on stage as part of Celebration 2025.

Hattie Coupe, Programme Manager (CFYP), interviewed Amy Bryce, reflecting on the creative process, the outcome and the exciting future of the anthem song “GET REAL”.

Tell us about your usual composition approach/process for writing for young voices?

This is a really fun question because my ‘usual’ approach, to use your words, is to pursue what is particularly ‘unusual’ about a given brief, because that’s where inspiration often lies for me.

Every creative environment is atypical by the very nature that people are bringing their unique selves into the space, and when writing for young people, their voices and ideas lie and the forefront of what we’re doing. So my approach is very hands-off, student-lead, and play-orientated; I’m more like a megaphone than a composer in that sense, and people get to shout their thoughts through me.

How is it working with young people, especially in a devised setting?

You really have to plan not to plan! I like to come equipped with a few feather-rufflers up my sleeve because I like to challenge the thoughts that are happening in the room. For this project, the theme was celebration but I was keen to draw comparisons between celebration and advocacy and why those two things are inherently linked. I like to write about challenging subject matter, but in a devised setting I have to park my own views and focus on where the room is moving to because any preconceived steering from me would not reflect the voices I’m trying to champion.

What excites you as a composer?

Things that are happening now excite me. Big feelings. Play, freedom, energy. Or real problems, the human condition, the climate crisis. Give me nitty, gritty, bothersome, thought-provoking stuff that we individually can’t do anything about and I’ll make some art about it, not because I think it solves anything but because I think it can act as an emotional access point. Art can be articulate which is reason enough for having it.

What was special and challenging about this collaborative approach?

It’s imperative to my work that I make sure I’m doing right by every child in the room, not just those who find it easy to make creative offerings. There are always students who don’t feel safe to speak or are not comfortable enough to participate in the same way that their more confident peers might.

How students are able to input into the room can range vastly from those independently turning thoughts into lyrics before I’ve even said ‘go’ to others who might not know how to articulate how they feel about something. So my role as a composer has ranged from sifting through collections of musical ideas so fully formed that it’s already a whole song, to remembering the essence of a conversation I had with a student where they were vulnerable for the smallest of moments. Both ends of this spectrum are hugely creative places that deserve to be sufficiently represented in this piece.

Who else is to be credited in the creation of this song?

Every single child I worked with at the Ashley School, Saxmundham Primary School, Alde Valley Academy, and on the Group A vocal outreach programme should get equal credit in the creation of this song. They all threw themselves into the process and gave themselves so authentically. There will be children who can see their ideas very clearly either as a lyric, movement idea, or a snippet of thematic material. There will be students who recognise the vibe more holistically, and I’m sure there will be students who gave me a something to take hold of and don’t even remember doing it. Nonetheless, everyone is in there!

What are we celebrating through this song?

We are celebrating real connection. As the title of the song ‘GET REAL’ suggests, it’s about embracing authenticity. This song is a young person’s answer to the recent eruption of misinformation and how online platforms stifle, manipulate, and exploit us. The message is uplifting and empowering, reminding us of where the truth lies and how we can find it.

What are you excited to experience when it debuts at the Snape Maltings Concert Hall in July?

This piece is ultimately out of my hands now which is such a cool part of the process. With different groups performing it every day for a week, I’ll ultimately see 1500 performers engage with this work so I’m intrigued to see what everyone finds in it. The thing I love the most is feeling like I never really owned this song in the first place, but I definitely don’t anymore. It belongs to everyone and exists for what they can see in it.

Find out more about Celebration 2025.

Learning Resources to teach and learn this new song will be made available (for free!) via our Friday Afternoons song bank in September 2025.