National Youth Orchestra
Encyclopedia
The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (NYO) is an orchestra
of 163 young musician
s from the United Kingdom
. The members of the orchestra are all aged between 13 and 19 years. The players are selected by auditions which take place in the autumn each year at various locations in the country. The minimum standard needed to audition is ABRSM / Trinity Guildhall / London College of Music Grade 8 Distinction – though it is not necessary to have taken any examinations. The NYO's aim is to be "the most inspirational orchestra for young people" and at many of its concerts, all seats are only £5 for under 25s. In 2011, the orchestra was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society's Best Ensemble Award.
(1984–1993), Jill White (1993–2002), and Jonathan Vaughan (2002–2007). Sarah Alexander was named the NYO's director in 2007 and is now titled Chief Executive & Artistic Director.
Each course is directed by a distinguished conductor. These have included Vladimir Jurowski, Marin Alsop
, Jiri Belohlavek, Pierre Boulez
, Sir Adrian Boult, Semyon Bychkov, Paul Daniel
, Sir Andrew Davis
, Sir Colin Davis
, Sir Mark Elder
, Ivan Fisher
, Antonio Pappano, Hugo Rignold
, Andrew Litton
, Keith Lockhart
, Sir Roger Norrington
, Tadaaki Otaka
, Geoffrey Paterson
, Sir Simon Rattle
and Mstislav Rostropovich
. In December 2008, the NYO announced the appointment of Vasily Petrenko
as its new principal conductor.
, Easter
and Summer for two week residential courses, coached by tutors. Repertoire includes a wide variety of works by Romantic
, 20th century and contemporary composers including James Macmillan, Thomas Adès
, and most recently Julian Anderson
, Judith Weir
and Gabriel Prokofiev. In addition to the main orchestral activity they have time to participate in a range of activities including chamber music
, physical workshops, dance, singing, improvisation and establish friendships.
Venues for their concerts include Barbican Hall, (London
), Symphony Hall, Birmingham
, Bridgewater Hall
, (Manchester
), The Sage, Gateshead
, Philharmonic Hall
, Liverpool
and Royal Festival Hall
, London. Every year they play in a Promenade Concert
in the Royal Albert Hall
to celebrate young British talent. Performances in 2011, for example, included Gabriel Prokofiev's Concerto for Turntables & Orchestra with DJ Switch, Britten's Piano Concerto and Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet televised at the BBC Proms, Leoš Janáček
's Sinfonietta
(which required an enlarged brass section) under Kristjan Järvi
and Gustav Mahler
's epic final masterpiece, Symphony No. 10
, completed by Deryck Cooke
, as part of the Southbank Centre's Mahler centenary celebrations. Contemporary music is also an important part of their repertoire. In August 2010 as part of their performance at the BBC Proms (marking the conclusion of their Summer course) the orchestra gave the London premiere of British composer Julian Anderson's latest orchestral showpiece,Fantasias, under Semyon Bychkov, which had been commissioned specially for the highly virtuosic Cleveland Orchestra
who gave the world premiere in November 2009. The NYO also gave the European premiere of the same work at Birmingham Symphony Hall. In April 2010 the orchestra expanded to a huge 173 players to focus on the entire orchestral works of Edgard Varèse
, including the first UK performance of Varèse's most famous piece in its original version from 1921, Amériques
, under Paul Daniel. Their concert at Royal Festival Hall was the climax of the Varèse 360° event, in which the NYO and London Sinfonietta
(under David Atherton
) performed the entire works of Varèse over one weekend as part of the Southbank Centre's annual Ether festival. Courses also feature encounters between NYO members and younger musicians so they can pass on their passion and expertise to the next generation.
and Larry Goves
, now runs in tandem with the orchestra during the residential courses, writing pieces for a small group of instrumentalists and running short workshops with the entire symphony orchestra. In more recent years the composers' pieces have been more formally performed as a pre- or post-concert event to the NYO's main concerts.
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
of 163 young musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s from the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The members of the orchestra are all aged between 13 and 19 years. The players are selected by auditions which take place in the autumn each year at various locations in the country. The minimum standard needed to audition is ABRSM / Trinity Guildhall / London College of Music Grade 8 Distinction – though it is not necessary to have taken any examinations. The NYO's aim is to be "the most inspirational orchestra for young people" and at many of its concerts, all seats are only £5 for under 25s. In 2011, the orchestra was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society's Best Ensemble Award.
NYO organization and past conductors
Ruth Railton (later Dame Ruth King) founded the National Youth Orchestra in 1948. Subsequent NYO directors have included Ivey Dickson (1966–1984), Derek BourgeoisDerek Bourgeois
Derek Bourgeois is an English composer. Educated at Cambridge University , he spent two years at the Royal College of Music studying composition with Herbert Howells and conducting with Sir Adrian Boult.From 1970 to 1984 he was a lecturer in music at Bristol University, and then Director of the...
(1984–1993), Jill White (1993–2002), and Jonathan Vaughan (2002–2007). Sarah Alexander was named the NYO's director in 2007 and is now titled Chief Executive & Artistic Director.
Each course is directed by a distinguished conductor. These have included Vladimir Jurowski, Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop is an American conductor and violinist. She is the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.In 2012, Alsop will replace Yan Pascal Tortelier as principal conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra....
, Jiri Belohlavek, Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
, Sir Adrian Boult, Semyon Bychkov, Paul Daniel
Paul Daniel
Paul Daniel CBE is an English conductor. He is particularly noted for performances and recordings of opera and of British music....
, Sir Andrew Davis
Andrew Davis (conductor)
Sir Andrew Frank Davis CBE is a British conductor.Born in Ashridge, Hertfordshire to Robert J. Davis and his wife Florence J. née Badminton, Davis grew up in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, and in Watford. Davis attended Watford Boys' Grammar School, where he studied classics in his sixth form years...
, Sir Colin Davis
Colin Davis
Sir Colin Rex Davis, CH, CBE is an English conductor. His repertoire is broad, but among the composers with whom he is particularly associated are Mozart, Berlioz, Elgar, Sibelius, Stravinsky and Tippett....
, Sir Mark Elder
Mark Elder
Sir Mark Philip Elder, CBE is a British conductor. He is the music director of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, England.-Biography:Elder was born in Hexham, Northumberland, England, the son of a dentist...
, Ivan Fisher
Ivan Fisher
Ivan S. Fisher is a prominent New York criminal defense attorney. He represents white-collar clients and others targeted or charged in complex federal matters.As a young lawyer, Fisher represented the writer Jack Abbott in a murder trial...
, Antonio Pappano, Hugo Rignold
Hugo Rignold
Hugo Henry Rignold was an English conductor and violinist, who is best remembered as Musical Director of the Royal Ballet and conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra ....
, Andrew Litton
Andrew Litton
Andrew Litton is an American orchestral conductor. Litton is a graduate of The Fieldston School, and holds both undergraduate and Masters degrees in music from Juilliard....
, Keith Lockhart
Keith Lockhart
For the baseball player, see Keith Lockhart Keith Lockhart , to Newton Frederick and Marilyn Jean Woodyard Lockhart, is an American orchestral conductor....
, Sir Roger Norrington
Roger Norrington
Sir Roger Arthur Carver Norrington, CBE is a British conductor. He is the son of Sir Arthur Norrington and his brother is Humphrey Thomas Norrington....
, Tadaaki Otaka
Tadaaki Otaka
is a Japanese-born, British-based conductor. He studied composition, theory, and French horn, at the Toho Gakuen School of Music, and later was a conducting student of Hideo Saito....
, Geoffrey Paterson
Geoffrey Paterson
-Career:Born in Kent, United Kingdom, Geoffrey Paterson was educated at The Judd School, St John's College, Cambridge, the RSAMD and the National Opera Studio...
, Sir Simon Rattle
Simon Rattle
Sir Simon Denis Rattle, CBE is an English conductor. He rose to international prominence as conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and since 2002 has been principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic ....
and Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, KBE , known to close friends as Slava, was a Soviet and Russian cellist and conductor. He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. He is widely considered to have been the greatest cellist of the second half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest of...
. In December 2008, the NYO announced the appointment of Vasily Petrenko
Vasily Petrenko
Vasily Petrenko is a Russian conductor. He attended the Capella Boys Music School and the St Petersburg Conservatoire. He studied conducting with Ilya Musin, and later under the tutelage of Mariss Jansons, Yuri Temirkanov and Esa-Pekka Salonen. He was resident conductor at the St. Petersburg...
as its new principal conductor.
Courses
The orchestra assembles thrice-yearly during school holidays, at New YearNew Year
The New Year is the day that marks the time of the beginning of a new calendar year, and is the day on which the year count of the specific calendar used is incremented. For many cultures, the event is celebrated in some manner....
, Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
and Summer for two week residential courses, coached by tutors. Repertoire includes a wide variety of works by Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
, 20th century and contemporary composers including James Macmillan, Thomas Adès
Thomas Adès
Thomas Adès is a British composer, pianist and conductor.-Biography:Adès studied piano with Paul Berkowitz and later composition with Robert Saxton at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London...
, and most recently Julian Anderson
Julian Anderson
Julian Anderson is a British composer and teacher of composition.-Biography:Anderson studied at Westminster School, then with John Lambert at the Royal College of Music, with Alexander Goehr at Cambridge University, privately with Tristan Murail in Paris, and on courses given by Olivier Messiaen,...
, Judith Weir
Judith Weir
Judith Weir CBE, is a British composer.-Biography:Her music has been appreciated by audiences and critics alike. She trained with John Tavener while still at school and subsequently with Robin Holloway at King's College, Cambridge, graduating in 1976...
and Gabriel Prokofiev. In addition to the main orchestral activity they have time to participate in a range of activities including chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
, physical workshops, dance, singing, improvisation and establish friendships.
Venues for their concerts include Barbican Hall, (London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
), Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Symphony Hall is a 2,262 seat concert venue located inside the International Convention Centre in Birmingham, England. It was officially opened by the Queen in June 1991, although had been opened on April 15, 1991. It is home to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and hosts around 270 events...
, Bridgewater Hall
Bridgewater Hall
The Bridgewater Hall is an international concert venue in Manchester city centre, England. It cost around £42 million to build and currently hosts over 250 performances a year....
, (Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
), The Sage, Gateshead
Gateshead
Gateshead is a town in Tyne and Wear, England and is the main settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead. Historically a part of County Durham, it lies on the southern bank of the River Tyne opposite Newcastle upon Tyne and together they form the urban core of Tyneside...
, Philharmonic Hall
Philharmonic Hall
Liverpool Philharmonic Hall is a concert hall in Hope Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is the home of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society and has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building...
, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
and Royal Festival Hall
Royal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building - the first post-war building to become so protected...
, London. Every year they play in a Promenade Concert
The Proms
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
in the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
to celebrate young British talent. Performances in 2011, for example, included Gabriel Prokofiev's Concerto for Turntables & Orchestra with DJ Switch, Britten's Piano Concerto and Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet televised at the BBC Proms, Leoš Janáček
Leoš Janácek
Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...
's Sinfonietta
Sinfonietta (Janácek)
The Sinfonietta is a very expressive and festive, late work for large orchestra by the Czech composer Leoš Janáček...
(which required an enlarged brass section) under Kristjan Järvi
Kristjan Järvi
Kristjan Järvi is an Estonian-American conductor. Järvi is the younger son of Neeme Järvi, and the brother of conductor Paavo Järvi and flutist Maarika Järvi....
and Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
's epic final masterpiece, Symphony No. 10
Symphony No. 10 (Mahler)
The Symphony No. 10 by Gustav Mahler was written in the summer of 1910, and was his final composition. At the time of Mahler's death the composition was substantially complete in the form of a continuous draft; but not being fully elaborated at every point, and mostly not orchestrated, it was not...
, completed by Deryck Cooke
Deryck Cooke
Deryck Cooke was a British musician, musicologist and broadcaster.-Life:Cooke was born in Leicester to a poor and working class family; his father died when he was a child, but his mother was able to afford piano lessons. Cooke acquired a brilliant technique and began to compose...
, as part of the Southbank Centre's Mahler centenary celebrations. Contemporary music is also an important part of their repertoire. In August 2010 as part of their performance at the BBC Proms (marking the conclusion of their Summer course) the orchestra gave the London premiere of British composer Julian Anderson's latest orchestral showpiece,Fantasias, under Semyon Bychkov, which had been commissioned specially for the highly virtuosic Cleveland Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1918, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Severance Hall...
who gave the world premiere in November 2009. The NYO also gave the European premiere of the same work at Birmingham Symphony Hall. In April 2010 the orchestra expanded to a huge 173 players to focus on the entire orchestral works of Edgard Varèse
Edgard Varèse
Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse, , whose name was also spelled Edgar Varèse , was an innovative French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States....
, including the first UK performance of Varèse's most famous piece in its original version from 1921, Amériques
Amériques
Amériques is a musical composition by the French-born composer Edgard Varèse.Written between 1918 and 1921 and revised in 1927, it is scored for a very large, romantic orchestra with additional percussion including sirens...
, under Paul Daniel. Their concert at Royal Festival Hall was the climax of the Varèse 360° event, in which the NYO and London Sinfonietta
London Sinfonietta
The London Sinfonietta is an English chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble specialises in contemporary music and works across a wide range of genres, performing modern classics alongside world premieres, and includes music by electronica artists as well as folk and...
(under David Atherton
David Atherton
David Atherton OBE, is an English conductor.-Background:Atherton was born in Blackpool, Lancashire in a musical family. He was educated at Blackpool Grammar School. His father, Robert Atherton, was the Music Master at St Joseph's College, Blackpool and was also a conductor...
) performed the entire works of Varèse over one weekend as part of the Southbank Centre's annual Ether festival. Courses also feature encounters between NYO members and younger musicians so they can pass on their passion and expertise to the next generation.
Composers course
NYO members have always had the opportunity to benefit from specialised training in composition and to have their works performed on NYO courses, usually on an informal basis. A Composers course (consisting of 7 young composers), from 2010 directed by composers Anna MeredithAnna Meredith
Anna Meredith is a composer of acoustic and electronic work, musician and music educator. She is the eldest of three children in her family. Her father is a retired university teacher of journalism, and her mother works in picture restoration...
and Larry Goves
Larry Goves
Larry Goves is a British composer.A Phd student at the University of Southampton, his tutor is Michael Finnissy. In addition to Undergraduate and Postgraduate studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, he has studied privately with Richard Barrett and Simon Holt...
, now runs in tandem with the orchestra during the residential courses, writing pieces for a small group of instrumentalists and running short workshops with the entire symphony orchestra. In more recent years the composers' pieces have been more formally performed as a pre- or post-concert event to the NYO's main concerts.
Inspire Days
NYO started holding open days in 1998 as a means of enabling young musicians to experience the fun of working with other musicians of the same age under the guidance of NYO's renowned tutors. Recently, these became Inspire Days where the NYO's current members spend the day with younger players, sharing their insights and inspiration. These take place at the start of the NYO's Spring and Summer courses and at other times during the year.See also
Other National Level ensembles from different organisations.- National Youth Jazz OrchestraNational Youth Jazz OrchestraThe National Youth Jazz Orchestra is a British jazz orchestra founded in 1963 by Bill Ashton.Based in Westminster, London, NYJO started life as the London Schools' Jazz Orchestra and evolved into becoming the national orchestra...
- National Youth Wind Ensemble of Great BritainNational Youth Wind Ensemble of Great BritainThe National Youth Wind Ensemble of Great Britain is regarded as one of the top youth wind groups in Europe, and hailed by Timothy Reynish as "one of the best wind groups in the world.".-History:...
- National Children's Wind Orchestra of Great Britain
- National Children's Wind Sinfonia of Great Britain
- National Youth Orchestra of ScotlandNational Youth Orchestra of ScotlandThe National Youth Orchestras of Scotland has provided music education and performance experience for young musicians throughout Scotland since its formation in 1979....
- National Youth Orchestra of WalesNational Youth Orchestra of WalesThe National Youth Orchestra of Wales , founded in 1945, has the distinction of being the first national youth orchestra in the world and is Europe’s longest-standing national youth orchestra....
- National Youth Guitar Ensemble