Last week saw the first WYSO course and concert under the new Musical Director, James Cunningham. From 9.00am on Monday morning, the best young orchestral musicians in Wakefield convened at Manygates to begin work on another ambitious programme of music. This year, the line up was to be Mussorgsky's 'Night on the Bare Mountain', Bruch's Violin Concerto performed by Anna Ovsianikovia and Dvorak's Symphony no 9 'From the New World'.

Over the course of the week, the orchestra toiled through the heat and by the end of the second day, it was becoming apparent that the orchestra were more than capable of meeting the demands of these challenging pieces and that the concert on Friday night was going to be of a very good quality. Under the enthusiastic directorship of James Cunningham and the leadership of Bernadette Dales, the orchestra improved a huge amount over the week. Not that it was all hard work of course, the daily lunchtime football matches have become somewhat of a feature of WYSO course weeks, although more care had to be taken this year due to the intense mid-day heat.

Friday came all too soon for the performers who had been enjoying the week and after the traditional meet-up in the Chinese restaurant for lunch, the orchestra were ready for their final rehearsal in Wakefield Cathedral. In the evening, the concert went extremely well and was very much appreciated by the audience. For many, the highlights to look back on will be the energetic and menacing first act of 'Night on the Bare Mountain', the beautiful slow movement of the Dvorak and the rousing energy of the final movement. In particular though, the stand-out feature of the concert was the wonderful musicianship of violinist, Anna Ovsianikovia. On the night, soloist, conductor and orchestra combined to produce a mesmerizing performance which will surely live on in many people's memories for a long time to come.

Wakefield Youth Symphony Orchestra rehearse on Friday evenings during the Autumn Term and reconvene in September to start work on the programme for the Music Sercices' Winter Concert in November.