Symphony Orchestra

Here’s an irony. While instrumental education in Scotland is at crisis point, why is it we can field a full-scale national youth orchestra as good as this? No room to answer that here; simply to report that Friday’s rip-roaring concert in Stirling – the final leg of the NYOS Symphony Orchestra’s three-concert summer tour – proved that somehow, somewhere we are producing musicians ripe and ready to pursue professional careers in music should they choose to do so.

Ken Walton, The Scotsman, August 2019

NYOS Symphony Orchestra Albert Halls, Stirling Four stars

The youngsters performed a challenging programme of works from the same era in the middle of the last century, all of them notable for giving the entire orchestra a complete work-out.

Keith Bruce, The Herald Scotland, August 2019

It is no exaggeration to mention these excellent youngsters in the same breath as an adult professional outfit. They’re every bit as good, and there will be more than one seasoned pro looking over their shoulders as the next rank of Scottish instrumental superstars come marching on.

Garry Fraser, Perth & Dundee Courier, 9 August 2019

"They weren’t disappointed. Under the incisive baton of RSNO principal guest conductor Elim Chan, the orchestra faced the dizzying heft of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 3, the virtuoso demands of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (Ravel’s lustrous orchestration) and the timbral challenges of Swedish composer Andrea Tarrodi’s Liguria with heart-warming intent."

Ken Walton, The Scotsman, 23 April 2019

I slept on this before finally convincing myself of the veracity of the happy note that I wrote before leaving the auditorium:  “I have never heard Pictures played so well.  Ever.  By anyone.”  Well done NYOS, you are a testimony for youth music.

Charles Stokes, Edinburhgh49, 12 April 2019

NYOS’s live presence, which was well-amplified and driven by more party-style repertoire, stole the show.

There was dynamic thrust from the word go, and a performance of Bernstein’s Candide overture that sizzled with pizazz. Then came the outstanding talent from the RCS Opera School, and a series of opera solos and ensembles that gave the punters the thrill they were after.

Ken Walton, The Scotsman, August 2018

FIVE STARS

NYOS Symphony rose to the challenge of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring with skills beyond their years. From those opening bars on bassoon, the wind and brass players took their turns in the spotlight with the composure of professionals, while the ensemble work in the string sections was exemplary.

Keith Bruce, The Herald Scotland

FOUR STARS

The theme running throughout NYOS this year is the USA, and the all-American programme featured three big and challenging works for the whole orchestra, from familiar Gershwin, a recent percussion concerto from Andrew Norman to a symphony from Aaron Copland, in mainstream repertoire across the pond but rarely performed here.  

David Smythe, Bach Track

FIVE STARS

To witness such a wealth of young Scottish talent was uplifting, and a real testament to the organisation’s work of nurturing the country’s young orchestral musicians.

Miranda Heggie, The Herald, Scotland

This was as vivid an interpretation of Stravinsky's complete Firebird ballet as we're every likely to hear in the Albert Hall. Not as quirky, perhaps, as Kristjan Järvi's unpredictable flaming with the NYO at the Festival Hall earlier this year, but Volkov knows exactly how to keep the first half from exotic torpor, and there were some wonderful orchestral solos along the way, with the first horn a match for her counterpart in the NYO the previous evening. 

David Nice, The Art Desk, 8 August 2016

Helen Grime was an oboist with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland so it is fitting that this group should give the premiere of Snow, the second part of Grime’s Eardley Pictures. The first had been presented in this season’s Prom 27.

Brian Barford, Classical Source, 7 August 2016

The National Youth Orchestra of Scotland’s Sunday afternoon Prom with Ilan Volkov opened with the world premiere of Helen Grime’s Two Eardley Pictures – 2: Snow, the second of a pair of works inspired by the painter Joan Eardley, and in particular her landscapes of north-east Scotland, where Grime was also brought up.

Tim Ashley, The Gaurdian, Monday 8 August 2016

"They began master orchestrator Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloë Suite No.2 with a wonderfully evocative tone: deep double basses, expressive celli and violas, vocally swelling violins and flutes as more than acceptable birds. It was a sound to glory in."

Ian Stuart-Hunter, Perthshire Advertiser

"This was Scotland’s flagship youth orchestra in glorious full sail: 105 of the best young musicians in the country in a remarkable display of virtuosity, musicality and the sheer professionalism of near-flawless collaboration under the sure-footed guidance of the staggeringly-competent young conductor Alpesh Chauhan."

Michael Tumelty, The Herald Scotland, 8 April, 2016

Scottish exports to China aren’t all that commonplace, certainly not in a musical context, but there’s one taking place that could cement musical relations between the countries for years to come.

Garry Fraser, Perth Courier

There was a real buzz about the foyer of Perth Concert Hall before the NYOS Symphony Orchestra concert. It was good to see the place so busy and indeed there were only a very few single tickets left.

Ian Stuart-Hunter, Perthshire Advertiser

HOWEVER it happened, Scotland’s concert audience gave the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland a tremendous send-off on Wednesday night on the eve of their China tour.

Michael Tumelty, The Herald Scotland, 30th July 2015

THERE were some fabulous things in Tuesday's concert by the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, not least the rare opportunity to hear Richard Strauss's Macbeth, an extremely dramatic and, I suspect, underrated symphonic poem, plus the dazzling, breath-taking interpretation of John McLeod's Piano Concerto, which received a performance by pianist James Willshire, playing entirely from memory, that was a tour de force of musicianship and virtuosity. Five Stars.

Michael Tumelty, The Herald, April 2015

In small town Scotland, a Mum gave her ten year old son a drum-kit. Nine years later Brodie McCash is a percussionist with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, and crucial to the successful performance of a John McLeod work, conducted by the composer himself.

Jane Robinson, The Scotsman, April 2015

Saturday's Usher Hall Concert by the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland was a taste of things to come. One was the bright and exciting future for some extremely talented Scottish musicians, the other a preview of the orchestral splendour we can expect when the Edinburgh Festival kicks off on Friday.

Garry Fraser, Perth Courier, August 2014

IF there was such a species, I would award four and a half stars to the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland's performance of Richard Strauss's Alpine Symphony on Saturday, with the half point deducted from conductor Michael Francis for running at a hill.

Michael Tumelty, Herald Scotland, August 2014

IN PULLING off Strauss’s mighty Alpine Symphony with an assurance that kept the audience riveted from beginning to end, the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland yet again proved itself to be an orchestra capable of reaching the highest peaks of musical excellence.

Carol Main, The Scotsman, August 2014