Two buses and a small truck are carrying the 70-member Sydney Youth Orchestra and an ensemble of assistants on a 10 day – 6 town tour, beginning in Dubbo, then Wilcannia, Broken Hill, Mildura, Deniliquin and finally Cowra.

While in Broken Hill they were combining with a number of local artists and the Wilcannia School Choir for a performance a the Civic Centre on Saturday night.

Walking into the Wilcannia Central School Hall at lunchtime last Thursday was an experience, a full orchestra in rehearsal, not a sound often heard here.

For the performance, the orchestra, with the help of Broken Hill ABC radio’s Amee Volkovsky provided the backing for the Wilcannia Central School choir to perform for proud family and friends, who were slightly overawed.

70 musicians with their instruments, including a double bass, three cellos, kettle drums, strings and brass sections took up a large part of the auditorium and made a lot of noise.

The performance began with part of the symphony ‘Finlandia’, written by Johnny Sibelius, well that is how conductor Ben Northey introduced it, that had the kids goggle eyed.

This was followed by the Choir singing locally written songs, including ‘I Belong’ and ‘Nuntherungie Night’ under the director of Miss Rachel, with the full orchestra providing the backing music.

Each instrument was introduced to the audience, with demonstrations of the range of sounds each was capable of producing, where the players showed the breadth of their talents.

Following a quick demonstration by conductor Ben, after all conducting does look like you are just waving a stick around, each member of the choir had the chance to conduct the orchestra.

There was much enthusiastic, though wayward, waving which the orchestra followed, when one child stopped midstream, so did they, great fun for everyone, though a surprise for the trainee conductor.

The finale was a further section of ‘Finlandia” during which everyone was able to wander around the orchestra, getting up close to the instruments as they were played.

The percussion section, especially the cymbals and drums, were popular.

See all the photos in the issue.

This article appeared in the Wilcannia News, July 2023.