For immediate release

Edinburgh Youth Orchestra in trio of concerts across Scotland with Aberdeen International Youth Festival 2010

Edinburgh Youth Orchestra (EYO) will take a leading role at the 2010 Aberdeen International Youth Festival (AIYO) with three concerts in Aberdeen, Inverness and Dunfermline, as well as playing in the Festival’s welcome ceremony at 3pm on 29th July at Aberdeen Music Hall, featuring the national anthems of all participating countries.

EYO’s concerts will take place on Friday 30 July at 7.30pm in the Music Hall, Aberdeen, Saturday 31 July at 7.30pm in the Eden Court Theatre, Inverness and at The Alhambra Theatre, Dunfermline on Monday 2 August, at 7.30pm.

Edinburgh Youth Orchestra Spring Concert Review

By Barnaby Miln - Posted on 11 April 2010

Venue: The Usher Hall
Company: Edinburgh Youth Orchestra
Production: Shostakovich, Festive Overture; Beethoven, Violin Concerto; Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade.
Performers: Garry Walker (conductor), Daniel Bell (violin)
Running time: 140mins

Almost 120 players between the ages of 13 and 21 sat patiently on stage without a single fidget to be seen when on came the young conductor, Garry Walker, reaching his podium with a jaunty spring in his step, to conduct Shostakovich’s short Festive Overture.

When the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra are in town, you can be guaranteed one thing...a bright, vibrant and polished performance. What the players can't be guaranteed is a decent audience and on Monday night only a quarter-full Perth Concert Hall witnessed an excellent performance from an orchestra huge in both size and ability.
There is a risk of going overboard with the EYO, and why not? They tick all the boxes when it comes to ability, technical nous and musicianship with natural youthful exuberance making a pretty potent combination. Admittedly, there were one or two inaccuracies and some precarious moments but when you consider the age of the players and the music sat in front of them, total perfection is asking a bit too much. What they delivered was a passionate, earnest and skilled performance of three classical works of which you never tire of hearing.

Edinburgh Youth Orchestra
Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Three Stars

Shostakovich’s Festive Overture provided a suitably vibrant opening to the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra’s spring concert, showing off the magnificent orchestral sound these talented young musicians can produce. There was everything from glizty brass fanfares to swaggering strings in this jubilant piece commemorating Russia’s 1917 October Revolution.

With standards in the EYO getting better all the time, it’s not surprising that over the years many players have gone on to establish successful careers in the industry. EYO conductor and artistic director Garry Walker and violinist Daniel Bell are both former players and they teamed up again for Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D. This is one of the most challenging pieces in the repertoire so Walker set a safe but sure course with tempi tending towards the slow side, particularly in the first and last movements. While this tended to dampen much of Beethoven’s natural exhuberance, it did allow the honeyed tones of Bell’s violin to sing out against a carefully calibrated orchestral backdrop. This was a fairly by-the-book reading from Bell, but his sparky cadenzas suggest that with a bit more confidence he could make something quite special out of this piece.

EDINBURGH YOUTH ORCHESTRA (EYO) 2010 – WELCOME HOME!
For the EYO, 2010 will be a homecoming year. The orchestra is very excited to be welcoming back two former players as soloist and conductor for its Spring 2010 concert season in April.

Violinist Daniel Bell, now a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, will take the stage to perform Beethoven's much-loved Violin Concerto. Our conductor will be Garry Walker, a former cellist with the EYO, who is now Permanent Guest Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.