CORNWALL Music Education Hub’s orchestras, the Cornwall Youth Orchestra and the Cornwall Youth Wind Orchestra, have both held their Easter concerts in Truro Cathedral recently.

The performances were a culmination of the year’s hard work and follows on from their Easter residential courses.

The Cornwall Youth Orchestra concert included 80 players aged ten to 19, conducted by 16 year old Angus Webster, who has been conducting the Youth Orchestra for the last 18-months, along with the direction and support of Tim Boulton.

The concert programme included a selection of works from the BBC’s Ten Pieces project, which aims to engage children with classical music by focusing on key pieces, such as Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto, Bizet’s Toreador Song and Bernstein’s Mambo.

For the pieces from Carmen and West Side Story, the Orchestra was joined by the Ten Pieces Choir, led by Angela Renshaw, the Hub’s vocal strategy lead.

The choir was made up of 75 singers from the Cornwall County Choirs, as well as students from Budehaven, Helston, Launceston, Richard Lander and Torpoint secondary schools. The solos from Carmen were performed by Rebekkah Scamp, from Truro College, and special guest vocalist from the BBC Singers, Matthew Minter.

Additionally, the orchestra held a special, informal concert especially for children and adults with special educational needs, and adults affected by dementia from nearby day centres.

The Cornwall Youth Wind Orchestra invited a host of guests to join a special Easter concert, marking its 30th anniversary. These guests included former members of the Orchestra, who had returned to Cornwall from across the country for the special celebration.

During the second half of the show, the Orchestra was joined by the Cornwall Boys’ Choir, Cornwall Girls’ Choir, the Hall for Cornwall’s Youth Theatre, and Hall for Cornwall’s Youth Dance Company.

All five groups came together to perform an hour-long dramatic re-enactment of Grimm’s fairy tales, including Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty and Rumplestiltskin.

Tanya Moore, manager of Cornwall Music Education Hub, said: “The standard of both orchestras was astoundingly high. The directors have done an amazing job of turning their visions into reality, and I’m also impressed with how well all the different groups worked together. The leaders of all the groups should be very proud.”