Young musicians on tour

Press, 9 July 1986, Page 18

Young musicians on tour

If you think shepherding 90 youngsters on a 15day trip of New Zealand is difficult, try organising 90 youngsters and 1200 kilograms of musical instruments. That is the task of the administrator of the Queensland Youth Orches;ra, which will visit New Zealand in September and October.

Susan Dowrie spent last week travelling to the six centres where the orchestra will perform to finalise arrangements for performances and travelling.

In Christchurch the young Australians will present a concert with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in the Christchurch Town Hall and probably play a school concert. There will be a familiar face (or back) with the orchestra for Christchurch concert-goers. John Curro, the conductor for the Queensland orchestra has guest conducted with the C.S.O.

He started the orchestra 20 years ago as a secondary school group for a music festival. The enthusiasm at that festival was enough to keep the group together as the first Queensland Youth Orchestra.

Now 360 musicians, aged from eight to 23 (they are "superannuated” at 24) belong to the orchestra. They come from all over Queensland and parts of north New South Wales. The orchestra is now three, plus a wind ensemble, a percussion ensemble and a junior string ensemble.

The first orchestra which is the one to tour New Zealand, numbers 90. the second and third orchestras have 70 members, the string and wind ensembles 50 and the percussion group 12. The young musicians audition each year for the six groups and competition is strong. Rehearsals are held for four hours on a Saturday,

Most of the players live in Brisbane where the orchestra is based. Many are students at the university or conservatorium. But, says Susan Dowrie, there have been players who have flown to Brisbane each week-end for rehearsals. “For practical reasons most move to Brisbane.”

Are eight year olds not a little" young to make such a commitment to music? “I don’t think so. Most take it seriously. It is a commitment because by the time they go to school and attend the Saturday rehearsals and their own private lessons there’s not much time for anything else,” she says. The group playing teaches the youngsters ensemble work and most progress up through the groups. Tours for the first orchestra are organised every three or four years. The last was in 1983 to Japan, China and Hong Kong.

The orchestra performs

regularly in a series of six concerts in Brisbane each year and occasionally in a nearby town. Money for the $120,000 budget for the orchestra each year comes from a levy on players, fundraising and grants from the Queensland State Government and the Music Board of the Australia Council. Susan Dowrie is one of two full-time staff employed by the orchestra. The other is the librarian. A publicity officer and secretary are employed part-time. The orchestra will play in Auckland, Tauranga, Christchurch, Dunedin, Alexandra and Invercargill.

In each centre the players will be hosted by arts organisations or youth orchestras. In Auckland the local youth orchestra will participate in the concert. The Christchurch concert will be on September 27. The orchestra arrives in New Zealand on September 20 and leaves again on October 5.