NYO’s Open Up & Let Loose in reviews

We made it… NYO 2022 is here! We’ve started the new year with a bang with a triumphant return to the Barbican Hall and the Warwick Arts Centre.
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We made it… NYO 2022 is here! We’ve started the new year with a bang with a triumphant return to the Barbican Hall and the Warwick Arts Centre.

In a performance filled with sizzling music and infectious energy, NYO’s teenage musicians let loose on stage at the Barbican Hall on Monday, 3 January, and invited the audiences into the magnificent and magical world of orchestral music.

Conducted by Sian Edwards, NYO’s young people took their place on stage with an eclectic and joyful programme of dance-inspired music. Featuring Ravel’s La Valse, ‘an increasingly passionate and exhausting whirlwind of dancers’, as described by the composer himself; the middle movement of Karim Al-Zand’s City Scenes, reflecting on the stories and intensity of urban life; Dani Howard’s Coalescence, a piece which explores the relationship between human and nature, and ending with Rachmaninoff’s swan song, Symphonic Dances, NYO musicians gave an awe-inspiring performance in a concert hall filled with emotion, teenage smiles and enthusiasm.

Packed with moody and memorable melodies, Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances is an electrifying piece. NYO musician Emily took us on a musical journey ahead of our concert, uncovering the most fascinating elements and unpicking her favourite moments of Rachmaninoff’s masterpiece.

We were also excited to return on stage at Warwick Arts Centre on Friday, 7 January with a boundary-breaking and youthful performance. Conducted by Andrew Gourlay, NYO’s young musicians took the audiences on a musical journey through Adès’ newly composed piece Dawn, the ever energetic Three Latin American Dances, by composer Gabriela Lena Frank and Rachmaninoff’s Symponic Dances.

The reviews are in, here’s what the critics say about our performances…

Honed into a crack ensemble over a mere eight days, the 93 players of the NYO were magnificent on Monday under the baton of Sian Edwards... It’s often been said, but Monday night’s concert moves me to say it again: our National Youth Orchestra is truly a marvel.
The Telegraph
5/5
It’s hard to imagine a better way to come at the new year energised and optimistic. The National Youth Orchestra hasn’t amassed in these numbers — there were almost 100 teenagers on stage — for two years. In the meantime they have decided they want their voices to be heard as well as the music.
The Times
4/5
...there’s no full orchestral sound quite like an NYO tutti, as this huge, energetic machine roars joyously into life.
The Guardian
4/5
If classical music has a future then these are the musicians who will be making it happen. They can play but they can also think and shout and speak up. I think we’re in good hands.
The The i Paper
4/5
In these infection-ridden times it is an astonishing achievement to bring 160 young musicians, together at the University of Warwick to plan, organise, orchestrate and deliver two concerts 'with a difference'.
Seen and Heard International

Our performance at the Barbican Centre will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Tuesday 22 February in Radio 3 in Concert at 7.30pm and will be available for 30 days on BBC Sounds.

Photography by © David McCaffrey / NYO.

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