Youth Chamber Orchestra

Forging the team spirit

The quartets are the building blocks of the orchestras, and the same principles that apply to the quartet programme apply here. The students work together in an environment that promotes not only artistic rigour but a sense of community, a spirit of generosity, mutual respect and understanding. Learning to listen to themselves and to each other is about more than perfecting their intonation; it’s also very much about reaching a full understanding of the larger musical meaning. We stress that each section, each chair has its importance. Our system of rotation allows the members to experience this first hand, to appreciate what it is to be in the other’s position – literally! Leadership and ensemble skills will all have been taught in the quartet programme, and take on a different dimension on this scale.
Music director Armando Vera Woudstra ensures the youth orchestra is continually challenged with new and exciting repertoire, as well as by the guest conductors and international musicians and composers who have been invited to work with them over the years. As the official orchestra of the Bolivia Clásica Festival (for which they exceptionally expand to include young musicians from all over), the Bolivia Clásica Youth Orchestra has given many memorable performances and collaborated with Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson in August of 2014.