East and West in concert on national stage

The best of Irish youth orchestras will perform at the National Concert Hall on Saturday, Feb 8. Of the Irish Association of Youth Orchestras 8,000 members, just 400, or eight orchestras, will perform at the 19th annual festival.

Among these is the East Meets West Orchestra, whose members are from the Kilbride & Lakeside Band, in West Wicklow, and Headford Youth Music, in Co Galway.

This will be their first performance at the festival and it’s the fulfilment of a long-held ambition for their conductors, Colm O’Hara and Matthew Berrill.

O’Hara and Berrill first met when they played with the National Youth Orchestra as teenagers.

Later, they studied together in the Netherlands and have remained friends.

Now both professional musicians — the former on trombone, the latter on clarinet — their work with the Wicklow and Galway youth groups fosters friendships and teaches skills. Kilbride & Lakeside Band is comprised mostly of woodwind and brass players, while Headford Youth Music has a tradition of string and wind playing.

While the two orchestras have played together in small venues, this will be their first major appearance. Wicklow and Galway had their first joint concert in March 2010.

They take turns travelling to each other, either in Blessington, Co Wicklow, or in Headford, Co Galway. Their range of music is wide, including traditional Irish, jazz, classical, modern and new compositions.

Members of the orchestra are encouraged to develop composition, arrangement and improvisational skills.

“Colm and I first played together as members of the NYOI,” says Berrill. “And, believe it or not, our first performance was at the IAYO Festival of Youth Orchestras at the NCH in February 2000.

“It was my first year in the NYOI, playing clarinet, while Colm had been a member on trombone for a couple of years before that. So things have nearly come full circle, I suppose.”

They both have a love of teaching, he says, “and, in a sense, we are carrying on what our families have been doing over the years. Our mothers are both very involved with the teaching and organisation of local lessons and concerts and it’s great to be able to work alongside them.”

“We’ve always had similar ideas on music,” says O’Hara. “A musician must balance the two general ideas of personal development — ie, working alone in the practice room — and then learning to work as a team with fellow musicians.”

The East Meets West combined orchestra was, they felt, the ideal way to give their own students a similarly enriching experience.

* IAYO 19th Annual Festival, National Concert Hall, Saturday, Feb 8. Tickets 01-4170000 or www.nch.ie