AYO July Season – Congratulations

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The Australian Youth Orchestra concert on Saturday 28 July, at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, with Simone Young and soprano Lisa Gasteen was an extraordinary concert experience for our musicians, and also for those fortunate enough to attend. Playing to a sold-out house the concert drew standing ovations from the rapturous audience, and cemented the orchestra’s reputation as one Australia’s greatest musical ambassadors.

“For more than 50 years, the Australian Youth Orchestra has delivered some of the nation’s most memorable concerts, none more so than the monumental program presented in Brisbane at the weekend.” – Vincent Plush, the Australian

At the helm was Maestro Simone Young, whose masterful engagement with the repertoire and dedication to imparting her musical knowledge with the orchestra was evident as she led 112 musicians in Strauss’s epic tone poem An Alpine Symphony. Soprano Emma Matthews, who was scheduled to perform a selection of Mozart arias with the orchestra, had to cancel her engagement due to illness. Instead, Lisa Gasteen, one of the world’s leading Wagnerian sopranos joined the AYO performing Brunnhildes Immolation Scene from Wagner’s opera Gotterdammerung. A joyful selection from Grainger’s Youthful Suite completed the repertoire.

Thanks to ABC Classic FM, the concert was broadcast on the morning of July 29 at 10am.