After a week of intensive musical training with some of Australia’s top musicians the regions young chamber musicians performed a series of free concerts on Saturday at the Armidale Town Hall showcasing skills gained at the New England Conservatorium of Music (NECOM) inaugural Chamber Music Festival.
NECOM Director Susanne James was thrilled to see over 40 young musicians from the age of eight to eighteen attend the festival from across the New England region.
“We had some of Australia’s leading Chamber Musicians come to Armidale and work intensively with all of the young musicians in the ensembles,” said Ms James.
“We conducted a wide variety of activities like chamber ensemble coaching, individual concerts, movement classes to develop good rhythmic skills, technique classes and posture and breathing skills.
“All the activities worked towards getting the children to improve their skills for playing together as an ensemble.”
The future looks bright for classically trained young musician in the region with more and more children taking up an instrument.
“The thing about young people is that they are very good consumers, they are very open to think about, talk about and listen to a wide variety of music and performing arts,” said Susanne.
“Most kids these days listen to all sorts of music and we must remember that orchestral music is the music of film, so they hear it nearly every day.”
Story: Jo Harrison
