The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain runs riot with concert tour at London’s Southbank Centre and Saffron Hall.
On 23 April 2022 the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain will return to the concert platform at London’s Southbank Centre in a riotous programme chosen to celebrate music’s power to break down boundaries between cultures, genres, and conventions. NYO continues their mission to work alongside teenage musicians to open up orchestral music and share it with young people across the UK.
Open Up: Running Riot! takes inspiration from Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring which shocked audiences with its urgent drama and radical rhythms, but centres this urgency and rebellious spirit firmly in the 21st century, with NYO’s teenagers teaming up with composers who are celebrating difference and diversity.
Dinuk Wijeratne’s spectacular Tabla Concerto is a pioneering work of musical fusion. Together with the charismatic soloist Sandeep Das, the score calls for a world where cultures have no barriers. Téenek by Gabriela Ortiz is a provocative reminder of our mutual belonging to the world, in music fizzing with elements of classical, folk and jazz.
All three of these pieces have been carefully chosen to make a statement in support of the life-changing power of playing music together. At the Southbank Centre, tickets will be free for U-19s and the musicians will introduce the pieces from the stage, highlighting how their performance of this repertoire enables them to embody collaboration, as well as having an impact on their sense of purpose, self-realisation, and collaborative mental health. NYO musicians will also give a performance of the programme at Saffron Hall on 22 April, exclusively for a teenage audience.
The NYO musicians will be running workshops in schools, taking Dinuk Wijeratne’s Tabla Concerto directly to other young people and allowing them to experience these values first-hand through making music with others. Both concerts celebrate what can happen when young people break down boundaries between musical cultures, genres, and conventions – finding a common language through orchestral music and a unifying sense of ensemble.
NYO Chief Executive and Creative Director Sarah Alexander said: ‘Through their wholehearted commitment, our community of teenage musicians are speaking up for the life changing power of playing music together – they want every young person to have these powerful opportunities. Music powerfully transcends boundaries and creates a space where culture, belief, experience and identity can be heard and shared. We are extremely excited to share this vibrant riot of musical colour from the stage at the Southbank Centre, as well as taking it directly to teenagers in schools and on our social media platforms.’
The concert is being recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 26 May 2022.
For tickets, visit: https://www.nyo.org.uk/2022
Gabriela Ortiz – Téenek — Invenciones de Territorio
Stravinsky – The Rite of Spring
Dinuk Wijeratne – Concerto for Tabla & Orchestra
National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain
Carlos Miguel Prieto conductor