The Ottawa Youth Orchestra (OYO) is pleased to announce that it will visit Hungary during its forthcoming European tour. While in Budapest, the OYO will present a joint concert with the Youth Wind Orchestra of the Lajtha Laszlo Music School on March 13, 2008 in the Csili Muvelodesihaz, Pesterzsebet. Donations are gratefully accepted for the tour and sponsorship information can be found at the end of this announcement.
The OYO will begin its tour in Serbia, where it will perform in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Ćuprija. In Belgrade, the orchestra will join forces with the Belgrade Youth Philharmonic. Following their visit to Hungary, the young musicians will stop over in Vienna, to learn about that city’s rich musical heritage, before flying home to Canada. The OYO will reprise its tour concert program in a special performance sponsored by PlastcoEnergy Group on the main stage of Ottawa’s National Arts Centre on March 30, 2008.
The orchestra’s performance repertoire for the tour will include two Canadian works:
- Fall Fair by Godfrey Ridout and The Canadian Shield by John Burge.
- Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp (K.299), featuring two award-winning OYO members as soloists, is sure to be a highlight. Bizet’s Arlésienne Suite No.2 and excerpts from Smetana’s Bartered Bride will round out the program.
The OYO is a full symphony orchestra comprising about sixty of the finest young musicians from Canada’s National Capital Region. Under the leadership of Music Director John Gomez, the OYO has become recognized as being in the top echelon of youth orchestras in Canada. OYO alumni are members of major orchestras including the Montreal, Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo, and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the City of Granada Orchestra of Spain, and the Royal Danish Orchestra.
This will be the orchestra’s third concert tour to Europe. In 1997, the OYO travelled to England with the Newfoundland Symphony Youth Orchestra (NSYO) for concerts commemorating the 500th anniversary of John Cabot’s discovery of Newfoundland. It joined forces with the NSYO again in 2004 for performances in Wales and Ireland.
The OYO is the “flagship” ensemble of the Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy, which offers the largest and most comprehensive program of its kind in Canada [Ottawa Youth Orchestra Website].
The Academy comprises two full orchestras, ten instrumental ensembles for strings, winds, brass and harp, a pre-school and beginners program, and complementary instruction in music theory and history. Approximately 350 students between the ages of 3 and 19 enrol in Academy’s OYOA programs during the school year, and an additional 150 young musicians participate in its Academy’s summer day camps.
The Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy is grateful to its principal sponsors, PlascoEnergy Group of Ottawa and HERA Holdings of Barcelona, and to its Major Sponsor, Biosign Technologies of Toronto, for their generous financial support of this year’s tour. Nevertheless, substantial funding is still required to ensure the success of this project and donations will be gratefully accepted. The Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy is a registered charity and receipts will be issued for income tax purposes.
For further information about the OYO 2008 tour sponsorship please contact Dr. Vicky Barham at vbarham@uottawa.ca.
You can also check their website at http://www.oyoa-aojo.ca for more information on the orchestra and its upcoming tour.