Nine students of the Central Coast Conservatorium took to the newly-renovated Concert Hall stage at Sydney Opera House in September to perform alongside musicians from the Australian World Orchestra.

The young musicians – bassonist Xavier Cardozo, flautists Emma Deed and Kayla Lush, and violinists Claire Berecry-Brown, Kaito Deed, Gene Park, Minjy Lee, Jasmine Bridgeland and double bass player Luca Crumm were taking part in the AWO Masters & Youth Concert ‘A Time To Shine’ on the world-famous stage as part of the Regional Youth Orchestra NSW camp, from 29 August to 4 September.

As part of the project the RYO participants partnered with musicians from the Australian World Orchestra and Sydney Symphony Orchestra. The week concluded with the combined orchestral performance, where they played two movements from Dvorak’s Symphony No 9.

The evening’s finale featured 120 musicians on stage, when the RYO was joined by the Arts Unit Symphony Orchestra and members of North Sydney Girls High Orchestra to play Hold Fast, composed and conducted by Australian Edward McKnight.

Activities during the week also included tutorials with AWO and SSO musicians and lectures and masterclasses with leading industry professionals. The students also got to observe AWO and SSO rehearsals and attend the AWO perform three of Richard Strauss’s most famous tone poems, conducted by one of the world’s greatest Strauss interpreters, Maestro Zubin Mehta.

Regional Youth Orchestra NSW (RYO) is an audition-based youth orchestra for talented students from NSW Regional Conservatoriums, providing opportunities to play with other regional youth musicians and learn from leading conductors, orchestras and artists from Australia and the world in a range of projects each year.