Royal Festival Hall performance

All the excitement started on Saturday morning while driving to London with my parents. We got there in time to spend an afternoon in London to see some sights and my favourite part of the day was a trip to Hamleys.  The whole weekend however was spent preparing for a very special concert I had been invited to perform in. I knew that it was such a big occasion and for days leading up to it I had felt extremely nervous! The morning of the concert I jumped out of bed and got ready to meet all of the other NCO children who were also performing. It was really great to see my friends whom I went away with in the summer.

On Sunday, we got ready for the concert in the mazes of back stage. This concert was a very special concert because it was a memorial concert for Vivian Price. Vivian Price was the founder of The National Children’s Orchestras of Great Britain and she sadly passed away after a wonderful life in the NCO family. The orchestras playing in the concert were the main orchestra, Under 11s and the Under 10s.

The main orchestra opened up the concert with Walton’s Spitfire prelude and fugue.  This was followed by a beautiful, gentle piece of music called Butterworth’s The Banks of Green Willow. Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending took the audiences breath away as the solo was performed so delicately and sensitively by 15 year old Charlie Lovell Jones.  The last two pieces before the interval were Scholefield’s The Day Thou Gavest and Scholefield’s Sunset.

During the interval, we lined up for the concert backstage to play Dabczynski’s Flop Eared Mule. This exciting experience was incredible! My desk partner Helena had travelled all the way from Glasgow and other children there came from all around the country. After our piece, the main orchestra took over again and it was a real treat because guest conductor Natalia Luis-Bassa came and blew everyone away with her awesome dance-moves! Not many conductors dance as they conduct but she does. I was a little bit disappointed that they didn’t perform one of my favourite pieces that evening which is the famous 1812 Overture. For this, the audience are usually given paper bags to blow up and pop for the loud sections! My final piece was called Radetzky March and this was completed with a shower of NCO balloons! It was a really special occasion and one that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.