On Wednesday 7th January, our Year 9 GCSE class made the short trip to Highbury Grove School to see a special concert given by the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (NYOGB). The orchestra spent two days at HGS, working with students in masterclasses and rehearsals, before putting on a concert at the end of the second day. The trip was especially exciting for us at Lister as we will be hosting the NYO in April for our own workshop and performance day.

Here is a review of the concert by Ricky Dam

Today we went to the Highbury Grove School, our main Music in Secondary Schools Trust (MISST) parter school, to see the amazing National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain playing.

The orchestra was enormous with so many people playing different instruments. They played Symphony No.1 by English composer Edward Elgar.  It was not very long nor very short – approximately 45 minutes.
There were many instruments such as flutes, oboes, cor anglais, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoons, contra-bassoon, horns, trumpets, trombones, tuba, percussion (including timpani, snare drum, bass drum and cymbals), harps, and strings. It was in four movements:

     I. Andante. Nobilmente e semplice
     II.Allegro molto
     III Adagio
     IV Lento-allegro 

Here is a short video clip of the very end of the fourth movement 

It was great because they were so good and some of them were of our age and they played fantastically! I hope to see them playing again!!