June 2013 – Jersey Youth Chamber Orchestra Summer Session
Jersey Youth Chamber Orchestra Summer Session
21st-23rd June 2013
For the orchestra’s third session they were led by conductor Aaron Burrows, the local pianist/conductor who has recently completed his studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. The programme focussed on Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks, performed with baroque timpani and harpsichord. The concert also featured saxophone soloist Grace Macdonald, who performed a special arrangement of Ronald Binge’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone composed by local young composer Ruben Maric.
The orchestra met for their first rehearsal on Friday 23rd June (pictured above), and through an intensive series of rehearsals over the weekend coached by Graham Cox (brass), Sarah Le Feuvre (woodwind), Young-Pyo Lee (upper strings), and Emmanuelle Dumas (lower strings), everyone worked extremely hard to get the programme up to performance level by Sunday 23rd June.
Following the final dress rehearsal (pictured above), the concert venue of St James attracted a good size audience that evening, and the concert opened with an outstanding performance given by Elliot Samphier, the PWC Young Musician of the Year 2013. Opening the concert alone on centre stage with a commanding performance of a Bach Partita for Solo Violin, Elliot set the tone for a wonderful evening of music-making and our congratulations go to all the young performers for rising to the challenge once again. The Jersey Youth Chamber Orchestra is run through the partnership of the Jersey Music Service and Jersey Academy of Music, and we are grateful for the continued support of the Strasser Foundation.
The next concert will take place on Sunday 24th November, and will be led by conductor Stephen Threlfall (Director of Music at Chetham’s School of Music) and focussing on a celebration of the music of Benjamin Britten, and the JYCO will be performing alongside the combined VCP/Janvrin children’s choir and a visiting string quartet from Chetham’s School of Music. Please check our website for further info.