Rosemary Richards
About
Q&A
Question: Can you tell us a bit about you, and what you are up to these days?
Answer I am a musicologist, teacher and performer. I am the co-editor of <a href="https://ecommerce.unimelb.edu.au/v-2-memories-of-musical-lives-music-and-dance-editors-rosemary-richards-julja-szuster-as-a-downloadable-pdf-1">Memories of Musical Lives</a> from Lyrebird Press.
Question: What was a highlight of your time in AYO programs?
Answer Overseas tours were a challenge!
Question: What skills, musical and otherwise, did you take away from your time at AYO?
Answer I gained considerable musical and social experience from participating in AYO.
Question: Why do you think AYO is important to the Australian cultural landscape?
Answer AYO offers great opportunities for young musicians to work together.
Question: How would you describe AYO in three words?
Answer Vibrant, challenging, enthusiastic.
Question: How or why did you choose your instrument?
Answer I began to play the bassoon because the Canberra Youth Orchestra didn't have any bassoon players. My father knew composer and bassoonist George Dreyfus, who was a creative artist at the Australian National University at that time. George found an instrument for me and taught me for a year before I went to my first National Music Camp.
Question: What instrument would you play if you couldn’t play your primary instrument?
Answer I have concentrated on singing since those days.
Question: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Answer Best wishes to everyone in the AYO family.