Adelaide Youth Orchestras. Adelaide Town Hall. 1 Sept 2013.
On a perfect Sunday afternoon the youth of Adelaide demonstrated in exemplary style that serious concert music is alive, well and prospering in the hands of the younger generation.
More than 200 young but accomplished musicians aged 12 to 24 years of age came together as the four Adelaide Youth Orchestras (AdYO) gave a rich and varied concert ranging from Grainger and Holst through to contemporary hits from the film Slumdog Millionaire and the classic-gone-popular all-female quartet known as Bond, and culminating in an expressive and competent performance of Bruch’s delightful Scottish Fantasty.
AdYO describes itself as a “small organisation that achieves big things”. It is an apt portrayal and puts lie to at least one half of the theatre adage ‘never work with animals and children’!
What an impressive event! It looked good, it sounded better, and it ran like clockwork – even the youthful roadies were every bit the seasoned professionals!
The Adelaide Youth Wind Orchestra performed three quite varied pieces, the highlight of which was ‘Variations on a Korean Folksong’. The composition relies on careful treatment of the diverse rhythms, and the ensemble’s success was greatly enhanced by the addition of well executed percussion. The ensemble worked hard under Conductor Bryan Griffiths to control the phrasing in ‘Cajun Folksongs II’, who might have been stronger and more deliberate with his upbeat, and Charlie Thomas was excellent on trombone.
The Adelaide Youth Strings performed several varied ‘educational works’ created for a string orchestra. Several of the compositions lacked interesting musical texture, and were at times thin, but this was made up for by energetic and accurate playing. The audience got fully involved with Richard Meyer’s interesting and aptly name Q&A, especially one young boy in the dress circle who stood for the entire performance peering over the balustrade in order to see clearly and nodding his head enthusiastically and perfectly in time with conductor, Martin Butler’s baton.
The Adelaide Youth Sinfonia beautifully captures the at-times mournful quality of Holst’s ‘Somerset Rhapsody’. Tchaikovsky’s ‘Marche Slave’ is a concert hall favourite but Geoffrey Tomlinson’s cut-down arrangement is far from satisfying; despite this, the Sinfonia attacked it with gusto and passion. Under the careful direction of conductor Peter Handsworth, the orchestra confidently handled the rapidly changing dynamics and allowed the abbreviated but rich melodies to take full flight. Austin Zilm was excellent on oboe. A highlight of the afternoon was a world premiere performance of Adelaide based Elder Conservatorium student and composer Dylan Crismani. Again, the tricky rhythms were confidently handled and the audience was left finger and toe tapping, but in a nice way!
The main event of the concert was the ‘Scottish fantasy’ which featured the Adelaide Symphony’s concertmaster Natsuko Yoshimoto as guest violin soloist. Conductor Keith Crellin OAM, who is also AdYO’s Artistic Director, extracted a fine balance between orchestra and soloist, which greatly enhanced the andante sostenuto third movement. The dialogue between harp (played by the ASO’s Suzanne Handel, and cleverly located next to the conductor’s podium) and solo violin was a highlight.
At the conclusion the audience was generous and enthusiastic with its applause. It was richly deserved.
AdYO is deserving of support and has launched its Annual Appeal. I urge you to donate online at adyo.com.au (click on ‘Support’). Better still, or as well as, attend their next concert on Sunday 22 September at 6:30pm in the Elder Hall when the Youth Orchestra, AdYO’s flagship ensemble, will perform Tchaikovsky’s immortal Symphony No.6. That will test them, but they’re up for the challenge!
Kym Clayton
When: Closed
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed
