7 July 2026
‘Playing for Australia’ – AYO’s Top End Tour in the 90s
In a milestone event, the AYO Flagship returns to the Top End for the first time in over 30 years, bringing an exhilarating program in Brave New Worlds, featuring ABC Young Performer of the Year finalist, AYO alumna and cellist Charlotte Miles, conducted by the dynamic Antony Hermus.
The 90s were the first and only time the AYO were in the Northern Territory, with the AYO Flagship travelling up north in 1995 as part of the Musica Viva Australian Tour, and 1990 as part of a series of ABC Concerts. The 1990 Tour, titled Playing for Australia, was led by renowned conductor David Shallon, and featured violin soloist Adele Anthony. It was the first time the AYO had embarked on an all-inclusive Australian tour. In an interview for the Australian Jewish News, Shallon spoke of his experience working with the musicians of the AYO. He said, “the orchestra has a wonderful reputation in Europe,” and that his work with youth orchestras is a key motivation for his artistic practice.
“[Youth orchestras] are constantly creative and exciting”
David Shallon for the Australian Jewish News
A New Frontier: Memories from alumni
For many AYO alumni, the tours to the Northern Territory remain as a treasured memory, and an important experience in their own musical journeys. AYO alumna and violinist Karina Hollands, now Head of Strings at the Central Coast Conservatorium of Music, said that “going on tour with a group of talented young performers with the direction of top artists was a formative experience in my career”.
AYO alumna, SSO clarinettist, and tutor for the 2026 AYO Flagship Christopher Tingay recalls the 1990 tour as “an amazing educational experience as well as a huge amount of fun.”
“The best youth orchestra tour was that trip”
Christopher Tingay
The orchestra conquered a mammoth program, featuring symphonic masterworks such as Strauss’ Don Juan and Elgar’s Enigma Variation. Between the music making, Tingay fondly recalls barbeques in Alice Springs on a dried riverbed, sleeping in a Darwin military barrack, and withstanding the overbearing heat and humidity (during Winter!). He remembers it as a fantastic opportunity for the orchestra to tour their own backyard.
Alumna Lucy Carrig, now violinist in the TSO, said that on the 1990 tour she “met so many people I’m still friends with today and saw parts of Australia I had never seen.”
For alumna and cellist Rebecca Harris, the 1990 tour was “the time of [her] life.” Memories of camel rides in Alice Springs, sharing a desk with AYO alumna Iain Grandage, and performing on stage in Darwin.
“Lifelong friends”
Rebecca Harris
Rebecca, now working in Darwin as a music teacher, highlights the AYO’s commitment to bringing their music-making to the Northern Territory, especially when the region is often neglected in other arts organisation’s national tours. Rebecca remembers the exuberance she felt from the Darwin and Alice Springs audiences on the 1990 tour and is elated to see the AYO return to Darwin on 17 July for Brave New Worlds. She summarised her feelings by stating that she “just wants to thank [the AYO] for making the effort.”
(Image credit: Rebecca Harris)
The AYO Returns to the Top End
Over 30 years later, the AYO returns to the Top End on 17 July at Darwin’s AANT, before returning to Sydney’s City Recital Hall on 19 July, in Brave New Worlds.
Led by acclaimed conductor Antony Hermus in his first return to Australia since 2018, and featuring AYO alumna, 2026 ABC Young Performer of the Year semifinalist Charlotte Miles, the performances bring together Shostakovich’s searing Cello Concerto No. 1, Beethoven’s revolutionary Symphony No. 3 (Eroica), and Brett Dean’s searching contemporary response, Testament.