Return trip to Europe with the Dunedin Youth Orchestra

Dunedin Youth Orchestra

“Europe and Back Again”

Press Release May 2013

By Dominic Tay

Take a return trip to Europe courtesy of the Dunedin Youth Orchestra this Tuesday.

The fifty-strong orchestra, comprised of musicians under the age of 25, is currently preparing for its annual spring concert to be held in Knox Church on Tuesday 21 May at 7:30pm. Peter Adams will conduct the orchestra in “Europe and Back Again”, which features double bass soloist Sam Vennell and guest conductors Jonathan Drummond and Nicole Batchelar.

The programme consists of eight short works for orchestra that originate from England (Vaughan Williams’ Folk Song Suite), France (Fauré’s Pavane), Italy (Nabucco Overture by Verdi), and Sweden (Larsson’s Double Bass Concertino). New Zealand music is also on show—Douglas Lilburn’s Overture Aotearoa is the concert opener.

Vennell, a long-standing member of the orchestra and student of music and physics at the University of Otago, won one of two DYO Young Musicians Awards in 2012. He will perform Larsson’s Concertino for Double Bass and Strings. It is not often that this double bass has the opportunity to perform solo, and Larsson’s work shows off the instrument’s full capabilities.

Drummond and Batchelar are both former winners of the Young Musicians Award, and return to the spotlight as guest conductors. Drummond will conduct the curiously titled Alfresco Dinner Party of Edwin Ursa and Friends by Blair Professor of Music John Drummond, while Batchelar will lead the orchestra through Fauré’s Pavane.

Adagio for Strings and Orchestra by Albinoni and Bizet’s famous Carmen Suite will round out an exciting, vibrant programme.

This concert will also see the presentation of the third annual Audrey Reid Composition Prize. This scholarship was established by DYO in 2010 in an effort to promote composition among young musicians. The winning composition will be performed by the orchestra in its September concert this year.

DYO has been providing a training ground for talented young Dunedin musicians since 1972 and many members have gone on to play in the Southern Sinfonia and NZSO and to careers overseas. Entry for the ‘From Russia With Love’ concert is by programme available at the door, and are priced at $15 for adults, $10 for students and unwaged, $5 for high school students. Children are free.
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