The Bendigo Symphony Orchestra will be celebrating the young musical talent of Bendigo in its final performance for 2019.
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The Young Person's Concerto will feature Bendigo performers Lily Begg, Anika Weibgen, Alicia Parry, Archie Bate, Noah Lawrence, and Blaze Houlden.
The orchestra's new music director Luke Severn said the orchestra wanted to highlight the significant accomplishments of Bendigo's young musicians.
"A lot of different community orchestras would do a performance like this, but it bares specific relevance in an area that's removed from one of the five major cities in Australia," Mr Severn said.
"Some of the performers are still in school here, while others are off in Melbourne at the Conservatorium.
"So it's just a chance for us to celebrate the wealth of talent that does come from Bendigo and to make sure people know they are welcome to come back here."
Lily Begg, one of the performers featured in the concert, is studying piano at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.
The 18-year-old, who completed Year 12 at Girton Grammar last year, scored a perfect score in VCE piano, has performed her own composition at the VCAA Top Sounds concert, and also dabbles in cello on the side.
But she said the concert in Bendigo would be a unique experience for her.
"I've played in orchestras a lot but this is the first time as a soloist," Ms Begg said. "I'm really excited.
"It's a great piece of music and it's exciting to play it with an orchestra as opposed to an accompanist, which is what usually pianists get to do."
Another talented performer is Archie Bate. The 21-year-old, who is a cellist as well as a composer, is in his third year of a Bachelor of Music at Melbourne University.
"It doesn't come that often so any opportunity is really beneficial for young musicians to have an orchestra to play in front of," Mr Bate said.
"When you're playing on your own in your practice room, you're just imagining what the orchestra will sound like.
"Then at uni, you get the opportunity to play with a piano playing the same parts and mimicking an orchestra.
"But until you actually play in front of an orchestra, you don't realise how big it is. It makes you play louder and really use all of the techniques you have been practising."
Saxophonist Blaze Houlden, 18, is still in Year 12 at Catherine McAuley College. He was awarded the school's Musician of the Year title in 2018 for his performance of Lachlan Davidson's, Strange Times.
For someone who has been born and raised in Bendigo, Mr Houlden said performing on such a grand scale in front of family and friends would be really special.
"It's kind of incredible," Mr Houlden said. "I've never had anything like this before so it should be a really good experience.
"I mean, getting to play at the Capital as well, with an orchestra behind you - you can't really complain about that. It's really awesome."
Music director Luke Severn, who took over the reins from interim music director Cally Bartlett in July, said the concert was the start of a "new era" for the orchestra.
"The main thing about this concert is it's all about our young soloists who come from Bendigo," he said.
"We want to support the immense talent that they have and give them an opportunity that is actually really hard to come by these days - an opportunity to prepare a concerto repertoire and play it with a real orchestra.
"So come see them and come see us!"
The Young Person's Concerto will be on Sunday, October 13 from 2.30pm - 4.30pm at the Capital Theatre. More information can be found at bendigosymphony.org
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