Young musicians from Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan have been nominated for a prestigious classical music award.
The Cardiff County and Vale of Glamorgan Youth Orchestra has been shortlisted for a Music in the Community award in the 2011 Gramophone Awards – the annual celebration of the world’s best classical music.
The orchestra faces competition from four other nominees in the category which seeks to recognise musicians in the voluntary sector that have inspired and changed people’s lives through music. A panel of community music makers selected by the Gramophone magazine, The Times and Making Music – the UK’s No 1 organisation for voluntary music will judge the award and the winning orchestra will be announced at the Dorchester Hotel on London on Thursday, October 6.
While the youth orchestra will be hoping for success at the awards, the Cardiff County and Vale of Glamorgan wind band are busy preparing for the recording of an easy listening and Christmas music CD. The CD will be available at the band’s concert at City Hall on November 14 while the National Concert Band festival in Cheltenham beckons on November 27.
Musical Director of the Youth Wind Band, Sean O’Neil, is currently organising the first Cardiff and Vale International Wind Band Festival with performances from youth wind bands across the country in the new Dora Stoutzker Concert Hall at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Internationally famous euphonium player, David Childs has agreed to take part of the festival.
And for a third time, the Youth Wind Band has been invited to perform at the New York International Wind Festival in 2013 following two successful tours in the Big Apple in 2007 and 2010 when they performed at the world-famous Carnegie Hall.
The future is also looking bright for the junior performers in the music service as the Cardiff County and Vale of Glamorgan Junior Schools’ Orchestra grows and thrives.
The orchestra, whose members are all of primary age, has grown to over 180 in number this September, largely due to the huge success of the Strictly Strings project last summer where over 200 string pupils from 14 primary schools got together in City Hall for a massed string orchestra concert in front of a sell-out audience. A number of workshops were also held in schools in Cardiff and the Vale, organised by Junior Schools’ Orchestra music director Gary Beauchamp to encourage children to join the county ensembles.
Executive Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, Cllr Freda Salway, said: “I’m delighted to hear of this prestigious award nomination for the Cardiff County and Vale of Glamorgan Youth Orchestra. It is a tremendous achievement just to be nominated and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the orchestra are successful at the ceremony next week.
“There is a busy time ahead for a number of the music service’s ensembles with some exciting ventures to look forward to. It’s great to see that the youth wind band has once again been invited back to New York in 2013 and that there is plenty of talent coming through the ranks for the future following the success of the Strictly Strings project.”
