10 January 2026
Young Conductors Hit the Podium at National Music Camp
Written by 2026 Media and Communication participant, Izzy Eagles
When you come to National Music Camp you don’t expect to be the one standing on the podium, directing an orchestra. But for three young musicians, renowned conductor and director of this year’s Alexander Orchestra Andrea Quinn invited them to take centre stage.
Oboist Joshua Shin and violists Alex Arthur and Niel Wang each had the opportunity and the courage to step up to the podium at this week’s AYO National Music Camp. With little under 2 hours to prepare the score, these participants took the baton with refreshing confidence. Conducting with passion and fervor, all three participants produced wildly different interpretations of the score.
Joshua Shin led the orchestra through Anna Clyne’s Sound and Fury. He professionally melded together complex rhythms and harmonies and with Andrea Quinn’s guiding expertise, promptly refined the wave of his arm to bring out nuances of the intense rhythmic and harmonic structure.
Viola player and emerging conductor, Alex Arthur stepped up to lead the Alexander Orchestra through the first movement of Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony. Post rehearsal, Alex revealed the joy that conducting brings him when working with others: “you are working with people, rather than an instrument.” Music connects and inspires.
Viola participant Alex Arthur conducts the Alexander Orchestra
The young musicians see the podium time as an opportunity to connect with their peers and try music-making from a new perspective. Alex saw it as a welcome “mental challenge”, describing the complexities when keeping track of the parts with your “attention on the orchestra and your hands on the score and the next part.”
Alex enthusiastically expressed his excitement and the value he found in the experience. He revealed that he learnt more about his technique and the intricacies of his gestures, “whether they say what I want them to say, or in a way which the orchestra will take notice.”
Opportunities to delve into these intricacies in live orchestral settings are rare. Andrea Quinn highlights the challenge for emerging conductors to have time on the podium in everyday rehearsal settings, and that trying “the sheer physicality of conducting” is of great importance. It allows students to explore “experimenting with different ways of conducting” and brings the subconscious reactions to the conductor’s cues front of mind. Quinn also highlights how “they begin to realise what goes into conducting and responding, that osmosis in both directions.”
Find out more about Andrea Quinn’s unique approach in this interview with fellow Media and Communication participant Paul Nicolaou.