Like every other musical organisation all DGYO group activities have had to be stopped while we all cope with the Coronavirus.  Well, perhaps not all!  A few weeks ago our young players were set a challenge.  Those of them who were up for it were asked to record their orchestral parts from the wonderful BBC 10 Pieces arrangement of Henry Purcell's Rondeau from his suite of incidental music for the play Abdelazer.  Many of our players rose brilliantly to the challenge and this recording is the result.  

Incredible performances, hard work and leadership - Wow, that was great today, Well done all and thank you, you were brilliant!  The Dumfries and Galloway Youth Orchestra is going from strength to strength and we hope everyone who came along enjoyed our concert as much as we enjoyed performing.  Huge thanks to all those individuals and organisations that help and support the orchestra and who make it all possible.

We're very happy to announce that David Lyons, Sub  Principal Percussionist with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra has agreed to join us as percussion coach. Dave joined the BBC SSO as a permanent member in 1991 after studying with Martin Gibson and Pamela Dow at the RSAMD between 1982 - 1986.  Dave has freelanced with many different orchestras including the RSNO, Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet and Scottish Chamber Orchestra.  He also plays with both the Kinneil and Newtongrange Brass Bands.  Dave regularly works with adults and children as part of the BBC SSO's education programme which includes the BBC Ten Pieces.  In his spare time Dave is a gadget geek who also likes snooker!

Dave will be coming to help for the first time at our rehearsal on 18 January and will be joining us when he can thereafter.

We're delighted to tell you that we've managed to secure the help of Lewis Bettles, an exciting young trombone player, to coach our brass players at the 18 January and 1 February rehearsals.  Read on below...

The Absolute Classics Young Person’s concert gave some members of the DGYO the opportunity  to play before an informed and discerning audience at the Buccleuch and Queensberry Hotel in Thornhill. 

On 28th July 2019 a chamber group from the DGYO played at the Burn's Society concert in the Faed Gallery at the Mill on the Fleet in Gatehouse.  They played a variety of music, Scottish traditional,  classical and jazz,  to a packed audience who were thrilled by the entertainment.  There were duets from Vanessa Ho, Erin Findlay and Fraser Hannah who all played wonderfully.  Our thanks to them for volunteering to perform.

Members of the DGYO were very happy and proud after performing to the public for the first time as part of a concert given by the Solway Sinfonia in the Heughan Hall, Dalbeattie, on 16 June 2019. The concert was called ‘New Beginnings’ to reflect a new youth orchestra, a new venue, and a new conductor for the Solway Sinfonia.

If you aren’t yet a member of DGYO but you’re interested to know what music we’re currently rehearsing you can find it on the BBC website here BBC 10 Pieces. You can listen to the music being played and you can download the music for your instrument and follow along or even give it a go.

We've recently been fortunate to be given access to two libraries of orchestral music. We'll need to take some time to look through these to find music which is suitable for us to play, but then we'll be able to use the music we like to widen our repertoire. As you can see elsewhere on the website we have recently been given a very generous donation by the John Younger Trust of Gatehouse. We intend to use this money to buy orchestral music parts which we'll want to own to use again and again.