Music

We Are Your Future

UNICEF recording

Music composed by Barry Booth, Libretto by Barry Fantoni

A moment of history was made at BBC's Maids Vale One studio on Sunday March 6 994, when the London Schools Symphony Orchestra and a choir of 250 Wandsworth schoolchildren recorded the official anthem for UNICEF. It is the first time a major charity has adopted an anthem, or even recognised the need for the strong musical identity which an anthem is capable of providing.

'We Are Your Future" is the title of the compelling eleven minute cantata, composed by Barry Booth, who also conducted the orchestra and choir. The libretto, composed by Barry Fantoni, calls for a soprano and a rock singer as well as children's voices. As the title indicates, the song asks us all to consider the future of children everywhere in what seems to be an increasingly uncaring world, a point intentionally underlined by the choice of young musicians and singers who performed to perfection on the day.

In addition to the regular members of the LSSO, itself an example of excellence in spite of the present climate of educational cutbacks, and a twenty strong recorder section, a number of leading professional musicians gave their services free. This again illustrated a central point made by the song, that those who have acquired wisdom have a duty to pass it on to the young.

		Score		We Are Your Future

The Musicians

John Middleton - musical producer
London Schools Symphony Orchestra