TWO YOUTH ORCHESTRA CONCERTS WELL WORTH ATTENDING: The Orchestra of the Music Makers and Queensland Youth Symphony Orchestra

Those hungry for the sounds of an orchestra but cannot wait for the SSO season to begin in July will be happy to note two forthcoming concerts by two of the top youth orchestras of this region. They are Singapore's Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM) and Australia's Queensland Youth Symphony Orchestra (QYSO). This pair of concerts take place at the School of the Arts this weekend on Friday (22 June) and Saturday (23 June). Both concerts begin at 7.30pm. 

The programmes are as follows:

OMM, Maestro Chan Tze Law and Thomas Hecht

22 June 2012 (Friday)
Chan Tze Law, conductor
Thomas Hecht, piano
Orchestra of the Music Makers

DELIUS Paris, Song of a Great City
DEBUSSY (orch. CAPLET) Pagodes
RAVEL Piano Concerto in G Major
HOLST Beni Mora (Oriental Suite)
DEBUSSY La Mer

The big news is that OMM has been named the Resident Orchestra for this year's Cheltenham Festival in the United Kingdom. It will perform two concerts in July at the Cheltenham Festival and one concert at the Lichfield Festival. This is the first time that a Singaporean orchestra has been invited for an overseas residency. This will be its pre-tour concert, showcasing the young orchestra's very demanding repertoire at the festival. At the festival proper, Singapore's Melvyn Tan will be the pianist in Ravel's G major Piano Concerto. Singaporeans here will get to enjoy a performance by Thomas Hecht, Head of Piano Studies at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory. This concert, filled with exotic colours, promises to be a cracker.

QYSO, Maestro John Curro and Jayson Gillham.

23 June 2012 (Saturday)

John Curro, conductor
Jayson Gillham, piano
Queensland Youth Symphony Orchestra 

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No.5 in E flat major "Emperor"

SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No.12, "The Year 1917"
JOHANN STRAUSS JR. Emperor Waltz

The QYSO is widely considered Australia's top youth orchestra and proves its mettle in a solid programme that is worthy of top symphony orchestral seasons, one that centres on Habsburg Emperors and the toppling of Romanov Tsars. Of note is the Singapore debut of young Australian pianist Jayson Lloyd Gillham, one of the continent's brightest talents, who was recently named Commonwealth Young Musician of the Year. He is the most recent winner of the Royal Overseas League Competition, and 3rd Prizewinner of the 2005 London International Piano Competition.(PianoManiac was particularly blown away by his performance of Chopin's Twelve Etudes Op.10 at the 2004 Sydney International Piano Competition, when he was just 18 years old!)  

Don't miss these two excellent youth orchestras, representing the future of music in Australasia.