This year’s National Youth Orchestra (NYO) concert tour was exhilarating as usual—albeit “unique” in terms of repertoire. Currently, Eton has six students in the orchestra, and all attended the Winter Residency shortly after Christmas. With an ensemble as big as NYO’s (160 people), it helps to see a few familiar faces, especially if you’re new, so for Winston L and Will M, settling in was not a challenge.
Our days pretty much were centred around 6-7 hours of either sectionals or tutti rehearsals so by the end of every day we were quite tired. However, it’s the people and the friends you make along the way that make being in NYO such a great experience and the long rehearsal days bearable—without them I don’t think I would have as much fun as I currently do!
After roughly a week of rehearsals, we went on a three-day tour around the UK. Venues included the Barbican, the Warwick Arts Centre and the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham, all of which were stunning concert halls to play in.
Our programme was quite different from what NYO had done in previous years, moving away from a traditional and classical outlook to something more niche and refined which although less comprehendible to play, ultimately still had the same engagement and effect on both us as musicians and the audience. The experience of being able to have such a fantastic opportunity to play orchestral music at such a high standard with like-minded peers is definitely worth the effort and intensity of everything we put into it.
For me, the highlight of this was probably the Anna Clyne Cello Concerto Dance. Perhaps it’s because of my bias towards other cellists, but playing with the globally respected and prize-winning cellist Inbal Segev, was just so fascinating and inspiring. Her encore contrasted the Clyne completely but she pulled it off with so much ease—it was truly something ethereal.
Overall, NYO has definitely brightened up the Winter and was a great way to start off the New Year: I truly recommend it.
