Australian Youth Orchestra
Australian Youth Orchestra July Season 2012: Blog 1
AYO Blog
Australian Youth Orchestra July Season 2012: Blog 1
By Sarah Gilchrist
The Alpine Season Commences
With over 100 musicians and staff descending on Brisbane for AYO July Season 2012, the first day of rehearsals is always an eventful, exciting and altogether huge day. Aeroplanes are caught, bags and instruments checked and transported across the continent and final goodbyes are said to friends and loved ones at homes around Australia. As our musicians arrived at Brisbane airport, greeted by AYO’s Program Administrator Meredith Potts, their excitement was palpable. As Joel Bass said, ‘We’ve just arrived at the airport, catching up with friends and I’m really looking forward to AYO July Season, it should be a great program.’
For the next two weeks, these elite musicians selected from over 1000 hopefuls will come together to prepare a selection of dynamite works for an unforgettable concert experience at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre on Saturday 28 July. At the helm is legendary conductor Simone Young, the repertoire features Strauss’s monumental An Alpine Symphony with lyric soprano Emma Matthews joining them to perform a selection of Mozart’s most fiendish concert arias. After a program briefing by AYO’s Operations and Planning Manager Lucy Papworth and an inspiring speech from the orchestra’s Chief Executive Officer, Colin Cornish, little time is wasted getting down to the business of preparing these exhilarating works. In the Opera Queensland Studio the opening strains of Night-Sunrise echo through the rehearsal room and the Alpine Season commences.