WILTSHIRE Music Centre has rescued two youth orchestras at risk from Wiltshire Council cuts.

Wiltshire Youth Jazz Orchestra and Wilts and Swindon Youth Orchestra were two of six groups threatened by cuts to the £247,000-a-year Wiltshire Music Service.

Thanks to WMC, both have been saved with support from Wiltshire Music Connect and Arts Council England.

Clare Jack of WMC said the message of what the orchestras mean to the teenagers is unchanged.

She said: “If we didn’t take them on they wouldn’t have been able to continue in their existing form. We will give the students the same experience of being in the orchestra as before and we have retained the professional conductors and tutors for the three courses throughout the year.”

Combined, the youth orchestra and jazz orchestra cost £65,000 a year to run and, to help cover that, WMC has won a £17,000 Arts Council grant.

Mrs Jack added: “Wiltshire Music Centre is a charity so we can apply for funding to places that Wiltshire Council wasn’t able to. That is the main route for us financially."

WMC will also expand Wilts and Swindon Youth Orchestra to include Bath and wants members to find it a new name.

Mrs Jack said: “The biggest difference to the orchestra from how it was before is that we have expanded it to be a regional orchestra because we want it to grow. Now there are students from Bath which also allows Bath Music Service to contribute financially.

“The handover is a new chapter for the orchestra because it means we are able to offer additional opportunities to students because we have 60-70 concerts a year with professional musicians and we can provide access to them with many very willing to put on master classes or workshops.”

WMC says it will secure the future of both orchestras for a minimum of three years, by which point it sees them as self-funding.

To celebrate, Wilts and Swindon Youth Orchestra plans to play the Symphonic Dances from Bernstein’s West Side Story and Charles Ives’ Symphony No 2.

Tickets for the Music America shows on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon cost £15. Visit www.wiltshiremusic.org.uk.