A New Australian Orchestra

New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 916, 1 March 1957, Page 19

A New Australian Orchestra

"OR, my goodness, yes!" Professor John Bishop sat up with a jump. "A youth orchestra of this age range is a tremendously vital instrument. It produces a quality of sound quite unlike an adult orchestra, It’s not ‘better, experience must count, but it’s a different sound and it’s an exciting sound." We had been asking Professor Bishop about the newly-formed Australian

Youth Orchestra, which. he is to have the honour of conducting for its first three performances in Sydney Town Hall in early March. Professor Bishop has been associated with holiday music camps and youth orchestras for many years, and this national youth orchestra of hand-picked players, chosen from all over Australia, is the culmination of many years’ work.

"I certainly see in it a very great future," said Professor Bishop. "Besides having an educational value, its playing will meke a_ decided impact upon the public consciousness." The Youth Orchestra, with an age-range of 15-23, has been drawn from gifted students in the three Conservatoriums, from schools, colleges, technical colleges and Universities, and will include students who may not necessarily be setting out on a_ professional career. Before their concerts the students will have four days of intensive rehearsal in Sydney. All their costs are to be borne by special scholarships and the concerts

themselves are to be directed by the ABC, Professor Bishop said that this group of 80 players will meet at least once a year, though he hopes that it will be possible to meet more often. Australia has now placed herself alongside a number of other countries throughout the world which possess wellknown Youth Orchestras-Great Britain, Wales, America and Belgium, which is the home of the famous Jeunesse Musicale of Brussels. Professor Bishop, who has been enjoying his association with the National Orchestrs and the Promenade Concerts, went on to discuss the effects of isolation on young musicians in this country and on our performers. Here the Professor had a suggestion to make: "A group of players such as the National _ Orchestra must feel a sense of isolation that inevitably overtakes any New Zealand group-it may be in the field of painting, drama or music," he said. "This sense of isolation can be a bad thing because it creeps into you and it’s extremely difficult to throw it off. It would be a costly project no doubt, but is it outside the bounds of possibility for an exchange of orchestras to take place between Australia and New Zealand? Such an exchange would be a tremendous tonic for members of this orchestra, and the visit of an Australian orchestra would likewise be a tonic to New Zealand concertgoers and listeners. The exchange would need to be of a period to make the project really worth-while-say a period of three months."