Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/542972
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 19 JULY 2015 This Week 39 Maestro Hodge tell us about Stoneleigh Youth Orchestra SYO was formed in 1944 and has been performing ever since. The orchestra is based in Wim- bledon and has over 120 mem- bers, drawn from more than 60 schools in London and Surrey. SYO gives three concerts a year in some of London's finest con- cert halls, working with leading professional musicians. Alongside my colleagues I strive to provide an environment which stimulates and challenges the young musi- cians, whilst also being friendly and supportive. Over the last 70 years SYO has developed a high reputation for musical excellence. Our alumni can be found playing with many of the world's leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony and BBC Symphony Orchestras, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Philharmonia Orchestra, and countless others. The orchestra travels on tour regularly. Why did you choose Malta this year? One of the orchestra's co-lead- ers and our principal viola play- er, Victoria and Peter Fenech, are Maltese. When their mother Suzanne Cacciottolo offered to organise the tour for us, it was an offer we couldn't refuse! I vis- ited Malta a couple of months ago and was hugely impressed by the sheer volume of cultural activities and the high esteem in which music is held. I am de- lighted to be bringing SYO to perform to what I know will be a wonderfully appreciative audi- ence. What repertoire is the orches- tra performing? Our concerts all have a slightly different repertoire featuring either Rachmaninov's 2nd Pi- ano Concerto, or Dvorak's Cello Concerto. The other works in- clude Liszt's Les Préludes, Mus- sorgsky's Night on Bare Moun- tain and Bizet's Carmen Suite. There is definitely something for everyone and it's repertoire that the orchestra really love to play. You mention two of the most loved concertos in the romantic repertoire. Who are the soloists performing with the orchestra? Andrew Zolinsky will perform the Rachmaninov. He is a par- ent of one of our violinists and a fabulous pianist. Andrew is a Professor at the Royal College of Music and he has been described by the Sunday Times of London as having "virtuosity (that) was at times incredible" The Dvorak cello concerto will be played by rising star Daniel Benn. Daniel is an ex-member of SYO and is now studying for a post-grad at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He is rapidly gaining a reputation as an extremely fine cellist and we are delighted to invite him back to play with us. Malta has quite recently estab- lished its very own Malta Youth Orchestra. Do you have any advice for local young classical musicians who aspire to a ca- reer in music? Work at it! Mastering your own instrument in a practice room is hard and time consuming. Put together 70 musicians and ask them to play as one, is immeasur- ably difficult. A good orchestral musician takes real pleasure from working as a team to achieve per- fection. Use your ears, use your eyes, and remember – there is al- ways room for improvement! Above all, have fun! Playing in an orchestra is one of the most thrilling and worthwhile things that a musician can do and the friendships you form in youth or- chestras stay with you for a life- time. Stoneleigh Youth Orchestra will be performing on July 23 at St. El- mo as part of the Malta Arts Fes- tival, on July 25th in Victoria as part of the Victoria International Arts Festival, and at Mellieha Par- ish Square on July 27th in support of the Lisa Maria Foundation music but the central problem is that there's practically no music in- dustry here. Starting from educa- tion, children's exposure to art in general is weak. But education is not just limited to learning music itself. There's no technical cours- es for music. No course in audio engineering, stage design or such subjects, which are crucial to re- cording and live performance. This leaves us with a scene where technicians and engineers are either self-taught or incom- petent, or worse, both. Rehearsal space is important, and locally it's difficult to find a decent-sized space which isn't too close to peo- ple it may bother. However, the lack of performing space/venues is even more worrying. Live gigs are crucial to any band, and the only places available are generally small and poorly equipped. When bands actually manage to gig, then there's always the in- cumbent menace of a 'gigus inter- ruptus' by the police. They might be doing their jobs, but there's clearly still a huge discrimination against bands in this respect. Lo- cal feasts may carry on with mu- sic and fireworks without ever being given a second glance, but if a band's allowed time is up, they have to stop and shut down there and then. Some time ago we had organ- ised a gig with Fakawi. The per- mit at the venue was until 1am. Exactly at that time we were forced by the law enforcement officers to stop the gig there and then. Following that, we disman- tled our equipment, had a chat with Fakawi, and decided to al- together go for a late night kebab since we were famished. By that time it was around 3:30am, and a couple of block away from the venue we chose to eat at, there was some party still ongoing at a bar because we could hear the music. The bar was opposite a police station, in the middle of a residential area. We're not saying that it's right, but two weights, two measures certainly won't help the scene. As for the Carnival Village in Marsa, well, the name speaks for itself. We still have to see how it will pan out, because so far it has been announced but we don't know about the details of how it will be run and what facilities will be provided. However it feels like the music facilities have been strapped-on as a second thought. If primarily it was intended as a Carnival Village, we find it very difficult to understand how it can also double up to accommodate the needs of bands, but let's give it time. What's next for you? Lunch. We're getting hungry now. Our next gig is going to be during the opening night of the Farsons Beer Festival, on July 24. We shall be playing with another local band Mistura, and we're very much looking forward to it. We're preparing our antics and silly do- ings for a show that will leave no- body disappointed. See you there! We're also working on expanding our repertoire with new songs, to eventually release in the future, in a galaxy far, far, away. At the end of July, a group of 75 young musicians known as Stoneleigh Youth Orchestra land in Malta to perform a series of classical music concerts in Malta and Gozo. We caught up with music director Robert Hodge to get an insight into the extraordinary history of one of the UK's finest youth orchestras A classical music spectacle for Malta, delivered by youth SARAH CAMILLERI DAVIDE TUCCI CARLOS FARRUGIA PJAZZA D'ARMI, FORT ST. ELMO, VALLETTA 22, 24, 25, 26, 29, 31 July, 1 u 2 August 9NHPJYX9JFYWZ2FSTJQ'T]4KąHJTW www.teatrumanoel.com.mt IMMANUEL MIFSUD WRITTEN BY MARIO PHILIP AZZOPARDI STORY BY DOMINIC GALEA MUSIC BY JOSETTE CIAPPARA DIRECTED BY LAST FEW TICKETS