THIS week saw the auditions for places at the very prestigious Young National Schools Symphony Orchestra. Places are sought after and limited to the size of a symphony orchestra and selected from players from across the UK from the ages of nine and above. It is a training orchestra for the main NSSO. The candidates have to be at least ABRSM Grade 5 standard and be particularly good sight readers. We are very proud at Moor Park to have had four pupils selected for the orchestra. Jake Banks (double bass), Oliver Whiteman (trumpet), Eleanor Williams (flute) and Isobel Hatton (flute).

The Young National Schools Symphony Orchestra (Young NSSO) made its highly successful debut in 2011. It was created to provide opportunities for younger players to gain orchestral experience following the closure of the IAPS orchestral courses, but has grown into a very successful training ground for those younger players who wish to join NSSO. Members of Young NSSO are drawn from both state and independent schools, are typically aged nine-14 years old. The orchestra provides an outstanding opportunity for these young musicians to play repertoire which is likely to be beyond the ability of their school or local ensembles. Numbers for the annual course are limited to 60 players. The week is closely modelled on the hallmark NSSO format. At the start of the course members work with specialist instrumental coaches, to help meet the technical challenges of the repertoire, before joining together in sectional rehearsals led by our Young NSSO Heads of Section. The ensuing full orchestral rehearsals are thus carefully prepared for and very positive experiences. In general the sessions are shorter than those of NSSO and the breaks more numerous.

The repertoire for Young NSSO is chosen with great care so as to challenge but not overwhelm the players. Performances have featured music by Verdi, Britten, Vaughan Williams, Brahms, Ravel, Prokofiev and Eric Coates alongside recent film scores including those of Patrick Doyle, the patron of NSSO. Young NSSO joined with NSSO in 2011 and again 2013 to play Ravel's Bolero and Shostakovich's Festival Overture and in 2014 provided the chorus for the NSSO performance of Holst The Planets. In this way younger players are afforded a glimpse of what the senior ensemble achieves as well as inspiration for their own aims within the organisation. Most members of Young NSSO graduate to NSSO.