In the presence of their patron Mark-Anthony Turnage

As part of its 50th anniversary celebrations this year, the Ealing Youth Orchestra (EYO) will be performing in a concert on Saturday 7th November in St Michael and All Angels Church, Bath Road, Chiswick at 7.30pm. The concert will feature a performance of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Momentum, and we are delighted that it will be attended by the composer. The full concert programme is:

• Rossini: Overture to Semiramide
• Ravel: Pavane for a Dead Princess
• Mark-Anthony Turnage: Momentum
• Borodin: Symphony No. 2 in B minor

Tickets for the concert are available on the door and via the EYO website, priced at £10 for adults and £6 for concessions. Those aged 11 and under are free.

The Ealing Youth Orchestra, founded in 1959, celebrates 50 years of music-making this year. As part of the 50th anniversary celebrations, the EYO opened the Rotary Youth Makes Music concert in the Royal Festival Hall in March performing Shostakovich’s Festive Overture and gave two performances of Verdi’s Requiem, in Ealing on 25 April 2009 and in University Hall, Exeter the following week. The American-themed 4th July concert involved nearly 40 players from the past 50 years, swelling the present orchestra for a rousing rendition of Ives Variations on America. They included Bob Burne, a trumpeter who had been at Ealing Grammar School and played under John Railton in the EYO’s early years, who returned to Ealing for the celebratory concert from his home in Australia.

This year’s orchestra is made up of 84 players from 31 schools in and around west London. In addition to the London concerts, the highlight of the year is the annual summer tour, which allows the EYO to demonstrate its ability to new audiences and gives the orchestra a chance to work on selected pieces performed during the year in more detail than is possible during weekly rehearsals. This year, EYO visited Normandy, France and gave magical concerts in churches in Rouen, Le Neubourg and Lisieux and a final exciting outdoor concert in Honfleur. In a week of fun and wonderful music-making, a great rapport builds up among the players, leading to outstanding concert performances, and life-long friendships are formed. The EYO had no dedicated funds to assist those members who cannot afford to take part in the annual tour so, as part of the 50th celebrations, a concert was held on 5th September to establish a tour bursary fund. More than £2,000 was raised when former EYO players, representing all five decades of EYO, including professional players from across the country, gave their services to perform an evening of chamber music which concluded with EYO performing part of their tour programme.

October 24, 2009