Orchestral experience for Waikato school children

Over 1000 school children from across the Waikato are attending this week’s Trust Waikato Symphony Orchestra annual school’s education concert.

The annual event is one of the highlights of the year for the orchestra.

The Waikato community orchestra is teaming up with members of the United Youth Orchestra and the Hamilton Community Centre of Music to play a broad repertoire while educating school children on the ins and outs of a symphony orchestra.

“The orchestra has a commitment to providing music education to our community,” musical director and international conductor Rupert D’Cruze says.

“The schools concert is a chance for children who wouldn’t normally get the chance to see a full symphony orchestra, to experience the rich full sound while learning about the various instruments of the orchestra.”

This year’s concert features an arrangement of Poi E, especially composed for this concert by well-known local composer Janet Jennings. An open invitation was extended to a number of schools across the region, who all jumped at the chance to hear the orchestra perform at the Hamilton Gardens pavilion on August 6.

“We hope that through this experience, children will have a spark ignited that will lead them to a lifelong hobby or profession in music,” Mr D’Cruze says.

The follow-up to this concert is the annual conductor’s training workshop in late August, where Mr D’Cruze will provide a training day for budding young conductors. Past participants in this workshop have gone on to direct choirs, orchestra, stage shows and brass bands right across New Zealand and abroad.