A trombone player who feels she is creating something beautiful. A boy who one day told his parents he wanted to play the cello. Five young musicians, five stories about what happens when a child finds their instrument.

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I made a series of short web documentaries for Kulturskolans Orkesterskola in Stockholm, meeting five young musicians and letting them tell their own stories about music. I took this project back to basics — spending three hours with each student, filming entirely alone, then editing each film over the course of a single day.

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The students told me about the friendships they found through music, and about what the orchestra school has come to mean in their lives. The school, which grew out of an El Sistema project, reaches around 3000 children and young people across Stockholm every year, bringing classical music and orchestral playing into schools throughout the city.

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