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.

The DGYO really showed what it could do, performing three pieces in a variety of styles to a very appreciative audience. Sibelius’s ‘Finlandia’ was followed by an arrangement of Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto and then rounded off with a rousing performance of ‘Mambo’ from Bernstein’s music for ‘West Side Story’. All players in the orchestra gave of their best, enthusiastically and skilfully directed by Jane Hainey who encouraged a really high standard of playing. The young players then had fun joining in with the Solway Sinfonia in a performance conducted by Hilario Flores-Coni of Purcell’s ‘Fantasia on One Note’ in which they were scattered in groups in the balconies above the hall to provide the ‘C’ which underpins this piece. An unusual end to the first half of the concert! Many of the young players stayed to listen to the Solway Sinfonia perform in the concert’s second half, and although the heavens opened just as the time came to go home, this did nothing to dampen the spirits of these keen musicians and their audience after a really satisfying evening.