An Evening of Emotion and Excellence

It was a real joy to attend the Oxfordshire County Youth Orchestra’s Summer Concert last night at the Centre for Music in Oxford. The performance was held separately from the main Oxfordshire Music Service gala, as the Orchestra is heading to Birmingham today to take part in the National Youth Music Festival.

Under the baton of the ever-inspiring John Traill, the concert was no ordinary end-of-term affair. He had curated a thrilling and courageous programme, offering the young musicians both a challenge and a platform to shine. And shine they did.

The evening opened with Strauss’s Don Juan, a piece not for the faint-hearted. Sweeping, passionate and technically complex, it demands total commitment from every section. At its heart was a stunning solo from the Orchestra’s leader, Teresa Lu, who brought a maturity and confidence to the piece that was truly breath-taking. Her playing held the room completely.

But it was the second half that made the evening unforgettable: a complete performance of Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony. Few youth orchestras today get the chance to tackle an entire symphony, let alone one as emotionally complex and technically demanding as this one. From the first bars, the players were entirely immersed, and so were we.

The Largo, in particular, was something special. Ethereal. Transcendent. It seemed to hang in the air, almost suspended. I was joined for the evening by Cadets Sofia and Isabella, and Sofia commented afterwards that she had shut her eyes during the movement and “almost drifted off to another universe.” I knew exactly what she meant.

There’s something about Shostakovich’s music that speaks to young people in a particular way. His symphonies, especially the Fifth, are full of contrast: defiance and despair, beauty and bitterness, subtlety and force. Composed in the shadow of Stalinist oppression, the music says one thing on the surface and quite another underneath. It is full of coded resistance and raw feeling, the kind of emotional truth that teenagers often grasp instinctively.

Performing it gives young musicians more than just a technical workout; it offers them a chance to express themselves in ways words rarely allow. That this orchestra, made up of Oxfordshire’s most talented young players, embraced it so fully is a testament to their musical maturity and the outstanding leadership they have received throughout the year.

As the final movement reached its powerful conclusion, the audience rose in an immediate and utterly deserved standing ovation. I left the Centre for Music both proud and moved – grateful for the talent and hard work on display, and hopeful about the future of music in our county.

Good luck today in Birmingham. I suspect you’ll knock their socks off.