Dartford musicians represent county in festive showcase of talent
On Sunday 22nd December, the Kent Youth Wind Orchestra and Kent Youth Choir joined forces to produce their annual Winter Concert at the Colyer-Fergusson Concert Hall, Canterbury. Dartford Grammar School students Harry Addy, Jesse Rees, Liam Bannister and I performed as part of the festive showcase.
Following two weekends of intensive rehearsals with the Kent Youth Wind Orchestra and a residency for the Kent Youth Choir, the ensembles performed works studied on their courses, with the concert spectacularly finishing with a joint performance of Ding Dong Merrily On High, We Three Kings and O Come, All Ye Faithful. The spectacular acoustics of the newly built Colyer-Fergusson Concert Hall at the University of Kent allowed for the triumphant nature of the pieces to really shimmer to the audience.
Programme highlights include the Kent Youth Wind Orchestra’s performances of Ian Mitchell’s Fantasia on a Christmas Greeting and the world première of Alun Cook’s Carols of Old England. Many of the pieces were exciting arrangements featuring prominent themes from major festive tunes such as We Three Kings and We Wish You A Merry Christmas.
Having successfully auditioned in the autumn term for a place in the Kent Youth Wind Orchestra, Dartford Grammar School student Jesse Rees performed in his inaugural county concert. He commented: “It was an amazing experience to play challenging music with new people, and to create a fantastic concert.”
The Kent Youth Choir performed a range of challenging repertoire and inaugurally featured its newly formed Kent Youth Chamber Choir, together performing traditional songs and more contemporary works ranging from Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus to Mark Lowry’s arrangement of Mary, Did You Know?
Formed in 1976, the Kent Youth Wind Orchestra was created to provide talented wind, brass and percussion players with the opportunity to extend their performance skills at a county level. The orchestra meets three times a year, with concentrated tuition from specialist tutors and to work with conductors of national standing.
The Kent Youth Choir was created just seven years later by Kent Music (formerly known as Kent Music Service) and has provided the opportunity for gifted musicians from across the county to perform in some of the country’s most renowned venues.
We must give thanks to the conductors, the instrumental tutors, the administration team, the KYWO and KYC musicians, at the team at the Colyer-Fergusson Concert Hall for producing such a fabulous concert.
Images by © Ricky, Editor-in-chief