Fifty of Cork's best musicians are preparing to assemble for their first rehearsal as the new County Cork Youth Orchestra. The event will take place at the Glanmire Community College on January 31st and is part of the new programme introduced by the Cork School of Music.
Membership will be confined to young people with abilities in string, wind, brass and percussion instruments, who are attending classes at the school's centres throughout the county. The rehearsals will take place on Saturdays, and rather than occasional sessions, it has been decided that longer, more concentrated rehearsals will be held every three weeks.
Entry to the orchestra will be by audition, and all successful applicants will have available to them tuition from master players.
The initial year of study will culminate in a concert in which the aspiring greats will perform the orchestral music that they have studied.
Mr John Fitzpatrick, director of the School of Music, believes the formation of the orchestra will bring together the finest instrumentalists in the county and produce something special. No doubt it will.