Pic: Dan Wareing

Violinist Petru Cotarcea has embarked on a journey to bring affordable music lessons to children across the capital. By converting an old bus into a mobile music school the 22- year- old Royal Academy of Music graduate aims to spread the joy of music to those who wouldn’t normally have access.

Cotarcea has created a crowdfunding project with the aim of raising £15,000 to buy and convert a second-hand bus and kit it out with instruments. His project has already proved popular, receiving backing from over 25 donors. His company Lycaeum Music is also pledged to contribute £1,800 each school month of 2019 and the aim is to provide music lessons to over 8,000 children by the end of the year.

He has been playing the violin since a young age and realises how lucky he was to have the opportunity that so many miss out on. He told EastLondonLines: “I have found in the last few years, as I have been working as a music tutor, that the music provision in the UK is diminishing year by year, mainly due to budget cuts.”

Private lessons are often the only route to fill the gap but the Romanian-born violinist believes this alternative is far too costly for most parents and children will be discouraged from even trying to learn. He added: “The people who are affected most are ones in less-favoured areas, because musical education is expensive.”

He has no doubts of the value of his project. “Music is a language that anyone can understand and is important that we all can learn how to speak it.”