Benjamin Till's Symphony for Yorkshire

Part of the score from the second movement of Benjamin Till's Symphony for Yorkshire

Benjamin Till is director and composer of the BBC Symphony for Yorkshire - a musical feast which will reflect the region using ideas, words and music.

Benjamin spent long, hot days in June 2010 in a Leeds recording studio with 220 musicians - many of them keen amateurs.

The poem chosen to form the words for the symphony was written by 98-year-old Doreen Brigham from Harrogate.

Next, sound recordists will mix and master the music, and then filming starts for the preview of the BBC Symphony for Yorkshire on Yorkshire Day, Sunday 1st August 2010.

"It's been a very difficult process," Benjamin admits. "Sometimes I think, 'Oh Lord, what have I done to people?' Not just to the performers but to the sound recordists and the BBC producer.

Composer and director Benjamin Till has written musicals about the A1, Coventry Market and Hampstead Heath

"It's an enormous under-taking; I don't think anything like this has ever been done with this sheer volume of people from all walks of life - some professionals; some school kids; some who only sing in the bath!

"But that's the joy of the project, it brings together all aspects of Yorkshire - race, sexuality, age."

Benjamin Till grew up in Northamptonshire and always had an interest in music and theatre:

"I'm a cellist and a singer, and I fell in love with Yorkshire when I was studying music at York University. It's incredible for me to get the chance to come back and work with the people here. There's an openness about Yorkshire that you don't get elsewhere."

After university Benjamin did a postgraduate degree to become a director and worked in theatre for ten years. But he always wanted to write musicals and became frustrated with the lack of opportunities for original musical theatre:

"Something's gone wrong with musicals in this country - there's no space for young composers. I was banging my head against a wall, wanting people to realise that there are so many decent composers out there.

Ian Wood from Hull played in the Hull Philharmonic and used to teach violin, but now it's just a hobby

"Name me a new musical about something not based on the songs of Blondie, Abba, a film. It's not that people are not writing musicals; it's that they're not being given the opportunity to produce them. We have public subsidies for dance, Shakespeare, ballet, opera, writing, but not for musical theatre. It's one of my bugbears. Because of that I was forced to reappraise what I was doing in life."

Big break

At the age of 30, just as he was about to relinquish his dreams of musical theatre, Benjamin saw a BBC London competition to make a film about his community:

"I wanted to do something about Hampstead Heath near where I live in London. It's a big open space, full of eccentric people. I thought, 'That's my community, I want to do a musical about it'. I later found out the person I spoke with at BBC London was asked to find out if I was a lunatic! They judged that I was, but in a way that might just work!"

Benjamin won the competition for his musical film Hampstead Heath: The Musical in 2005. It was screened on BBC London News shortly after the 7/7 terrorist attacks when the mood in London was very gloomy - but Benjamin said it made him realise that his purpose in life was to bring people together through music.

"Everything was about struggle and meanwhile I'd made this camp, stupid musical with all my mates, people on the Heath in rollerblades, dancing and swimming. It was bizarre, the BBC London switch lines were jammed with people saying, 'What the hell is this?' or 'This is great!'

The Symphony will be aired on Yorkshire Day, 1st August 2010

"People who'd been traumatised by the London bombings emailed me and said it was the first time they'd seen people smiling. It suddenly occurred to me that my role in life was to bring people together through documentary music - give them the opportunity to smile, laugh, be proud of the places they come from."

Benjamin went on to do a symphony with London buskers , followed by A1: The Road Musical with Channel 4, and Coventry Market - The Musical! with the BBC.

"My music is there to give people a sense of joy and a sense of belonging. We're worried about war, terrorism, our lives - but if you can't support one another with projects like this, we can't call ourselves Great Britons.

A Symphony for Yorkshire

Benjamin wrote the Symphony for Yorkshire according to the musicians he met during auditions.

"It's a bit like a jigsaw puzzle. The string group from Hull didn't expect to be accompanied by a Wurlitzer Organ, played by Aubrey Robinson who is the official organist for the tea dances at Sheffield City Hall.

Hazel is one of the sound recordists working on the Symphony

"We have a rock band, a folk band, a hand ocarina player, a musical saw, two brass bands, a flute choir...

"We have 30 string players, including Ed Alleyne-Johnson who is an extraordinary electric violinist who uses pedal techniques and echoes and crazy loops. He's the guy who did the Purple Violin Concerto which I remember from my teenage years as a cellist - it's a seminal piece of music to all string players. I found him busking in York and now I know who is, I can't believe he agreed to take part.

"We have the Ebor Singers from York who specialise in early music - and a saxophone player who likes early music too, so I've put him with them. The joy is that all the people might never meet - they come separately to the recording studio and we may even film them separately; a split screen with both playing at the same time in different landscapes. That's the exciting thing about this project."

Benjamin's Symphony for Yorkshire is created to reflect the different parts of the UK's biggest county; the industrial landscapes of South Yorkshire, the moorlands of West Yorkshire and the seaside and fishing traditions of Humberside and North Yorkshire.

"The last movement brings all the themes together - there's a big finale with police drummers marching down a road and the saxophone choir on top of a bus. We're thinking big! When 250 people audition, you can't think small."

:: See and hear the full Symphony for Yorkshire on BBC local radio, TV and Big Screens on Yorkshire Day, Sunday 1st August 2010. Full details to follow.