Auditions for the National Youth Orchestra open

HUNDREDS of young musicians are expected to audition for a place in the prestigious green-and-gold symphonic team, the South African National Youth Orchestra.

Orchestras are formed each year at courses run in the holidays and comprise of South Africa’s top young musical talent.

Also read: KZN Youth Orchestra looking for talented musicians | Highway Mail

Members include players from communities across the country chosen on merit through two auditions. The first is an anonymous recorded audition, after which a live audition is played behind-screen, in front of an expert audition panel.

The National Youth Orchestra has supported the training and development of South Africa’s young musicians through its courses and development programmes for over half a century.

Its legacy is far-reaching with representation of alumni in top professional orchestras in South Africa, and indeed across the globe. The orchestra has performed with the likes of Archbishop Tutu, Sir James Galway, Sir Roger Norrington, Barbara Hendricks and Judith Sephuma, just to name a few.

Also read: Young musos set to wow crowds | Highway Mail

This year the National Youth Orchestra boasts a whole series of courses and programmes for young orchestral musicians under the age of 25, which help to equip young people with the skills to perform in a professional musical environment and introduce them to a necessary network of fellow musicians.

In May, a selection of National Youth Orchestra musicians will play for Umculo’s production of Bach’s St John Passion, directed by acclaimed opera director and tenor, Kobie van Rensburg, in Johannesburg and three of our musicians will tour to Amsterdam for an incredible exchange programme with one of the world’s best orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

The National Youth Orchestra 2018 meets in Bloemfontein in the June/July holidays for the Winter Course; and in Pretoria and Johannesburg in August, in an historic partnership, the orchestra for 2018 will have the once-in-a-lifetime chance to have a side-by-side five-day Immersion Experience with the Grammy Award-winning Minnesota Orchestra, the first major American orchestra to tour to South Africa, and their internationally acclaimed conductor, Osmo Vänskä.

Vänskä returns to South Africa for the first time since conducting the 50th anniversary concerts in 2014. The Minnesota Orchestra will give master classes, the orchestras will play chamber music together, have a day of side-by-side rehearsals, and the young musicians will have the opportunity to expand their musical network, while learning from some of the best musicians in the world.

As a bonus the young musicians will also attend one of the Minnesota Orchestra’s performances on their tour that includes Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Soweto and Pretoria.

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