Blue Mountains Orchestra | Musician/band
Blue Mountains Orchestra
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25.01.2022 Get to know us! Well soon be running a series of player profiles so you can get to know who we are and what makes us tick as musicians. Make sure you dont miss any! Follow our page, go ahead and share any of our posts, and best of all, tell your friends and family about us.
24.01.2022 Percy Grainger was ......... a superstar! He was the first Australian composer and pianist to become an international celebrity, acknowledged as one of the greatest pianists of his time. His new compositions were always eagerly awaited. Son of a Melbourne doctor, born in 1882, he displayed precocious talent at an early age, both as a pianist and an artist, giving piano recitals as a 10-year old.... At age 13, he went with his mother, Rose, to Germany to study piano and composition. He never returned to Australia to live, but remained intensely patriotic throughout his life. From 1901 to 1914 London was his base, as he toured Britain, Europe and USA, achieving recognition for his brilliant technique and idiosyncratic performances. During these years he befriended many composers, and was especially close to Grieg and Delius. Grieg acknowledged him as the greatest interpreter of his Piano Concerto. In 1914 he and Rose moved to USA, where he enlisted as an army bandsman, and became a highly popular composer of music for concert band/symphonic wind ensemble. In the years after the war his international career as a pianist grew spectacularly, he earned huge performance fees, but was extremely generous in sharing his financial success with others. Percy made Australian concert tours in 1924 and 1926, giving lectures and recitals across the country, often running from town to town, including setting a record for running from Melbourne to Sydney!!!!!! Further Australian tours followed in 1934 and 1938, during which he established the Grainger Museum in Melbourne. You can still visit the museum and marvel a Graingers invention of terry-towelling clothing, as well as his early examples of music machines, the precursors of electronic music. USA remained his home until his death in 1961, but he was a truly international artist who remained very proud of his Australian origins. Always highly eccentric and witty, he loved playing practical jokes on others. When I perform, he wrote in 1951, the concert givers are glad one doesnt have a stroke on stage, and they dont expect one to play the right notes any more. His remains are buried in Adelaide - his mothers hometown. Genius? Eccentric? Share your thoughts below!
24.01.2022 Australias most famous composer.........Peter Sculthorpe! BMO are excited to be performing Sculthorpes "Small Town" - a musical depiction of the town of Thirroul, just south of Sydney. Sculthorpes evocative sounds clearly reflect and depict the Australian landscape, climate, geography, history, and the music of Aboriginal Australia as well as our near neighbours. He provided the example for others to follow, many of whom learned from him or were influenced by him. ... Throughout his life (1929-2014), Tasmanian Sculthorpe combined the elements of indigenous and western music in a very distinctive style, and added didgeridoo to earlier pieces when he discovered the extraordinary talent of William Barton. As a child, he had to hide his work from his piano teacher, who punished him for daring to compose when all the great music has already been written, so dont waste your time. By the age of 14 he knew that his life would be spent making and writing music, to the concern of his parents, who doubted Peters ability to survive on music alone. His parents neednt have worried as his appointment to Sydney University as Professor of Composition in 1963 provided financial security as well as the opportunity to develop the skills of the next generation of young Australian composers, and a steady flow of new compositions the Sun Music series (Commissioned by Sir Bernard Heinze), Mangrove, Irkanda, Fifth Continent, My Country Childhood, Kakadu, and Small Town which will feature on the Blue Mountains Orchestra program.
23.01.2022 The aftermath........ sorting out the music parts! Many members of BMO put in countless hours behind the scenes to make the concerts a reality. Thanks to everyone who has helped out!
23.01.2022 Positions Vacant! Blue Mountains Orchestra has positions available for ALL STRINGS and BRASS. Rehearsals are each Thursday evening, Springwood Public School,7-9pm.... Enquiries welcome.
22.01.2022 We love working with the talented singers from Blaxland High! Did you know that Blue Mountains Orchestra also has members from Penrith High, Winmalee High, Nepean Christian and St Columbas? Its truly a community orchestra made up of musicians of all ages! Come along and see - 2pm this Sunday at The Hub.
22.01.2022 Just a bunch of people who love making music, busily preparing to bring you a great concert (see our events for details). You should come!
22.01.2022 Congratulations to all.
21.01.2022 A cosy rehearsal for our upcoming Concert "20th Century Giants" on 5 May for some of our players at our Musical Directors home.
21.01.2022 MeetWendy I started learning the flute when I started high school, way back in the last century . I joined the orchestra four years ago, and more recently had the piccolo thrust upon me. I also spent ten years learning the shakuhachi (Japanese flute) with Grand Master Riley Lee. I was frustrated in my Adelaide high school because we only played rock n roll and jazz. My life changed when the Tea Tree Gully Youth Orchestra started and I finally had the chance to play class...ical music with others. When I moved to Sydney I played in the Mosman Orchestra for ten years and one of the highlights there was playing Symphony La Jolla, by Martinu. Really challenging but very exciting! It can be stressful to play some of the difficult sections of pieces, especially if your part is exposed. I always feel like it is such a privilege to get to play famous pieces in the orchestra, and I love exploring the music and hearing how everything fits together. I also love sitting in front of the French horns! Playing Holsts The Planets was one of the scariest but most exhilarating experiences of my life! I would recommend joining an ensemble of any kind, but being in an orchestra is the ultimate in teamwork.
19.01.2022 Forgotten to buy something for Dad for Fathers Day? Here is the perfect gift idea! Tickets available now.
18.01.2022 MeetBethany! I started playing the oboe when I was 10, and Ive been playing with BMO for 3 years. I didnt want to learn the oboe but I was told I had to! I wanted to play the flute and pretty much refused to pick up the oboe for the entire first year. Then some switch flipped and I fell in love with it and havent looked back. The oboe I play now was custom-made and some of the keys have been adapted to my somewhat short pinky fingers so I can reach those keys. Its very p...recious to me because it was a gift from my husband. I cant really play any other instruments I learned violin when I was very young but I was terrible at it. I can pick things out on the piano and I attempted to learn guitar a few years ago, but I cant actually properly play any other instruments. Music isa happy place, a safe place, a place where I can just be who I am and in whatever state Im in. Its demanding but uncomplicated. It helps me destress, brings me joy, reminds me that I can do things I thought I couldnt, and that almost everything can be improved upon with time and effort and the right advice. I love it when pieces weve been working on in rehearsals and practicing at home come together in the final performance especially when that magical thing happens when you think its not ready and somehow it all just works. The whole process of playing music as one body amazes and thrills me, from the very first sight-read to performance. I love playing Baroque music best. One hard thing about playing in the orchestra is lacking confidence, especially in the really exposed bits where everyone hears it if you mess up! If youre thinking about learning an instrument or playing in an orchestra, even if youve never learned an instrument or cant read music, even if you think you cant, you can! Pick something you like the sound of, get yourself some lessons, and be prepared for the most frustrating and joyful experience of your life. And if you can play an instrument but youve never played in an orchestra or other ensemble, give it a go. There is truly nothing like it.
18.01.2022 The orchestra is excitedly rehearsing for this concert. Please tell your family and friends to buy tickets now.
13.01.2022 MeetAurora! Ive played cello in the orchestra for a little over a year now, and have been playing cello for about three years. I started playing because I loved the sound of it, and Ive found it a pretty natural instrument to pick up. I also sing, and play guitar and flute. Im a bit of a music nerd so my goal is to be able to play as many instruments as possible. I think music is something really special. It allows us to communicate things that words cant express, and it...s able to collect and unify people from very different nations and cultures. I love working with other amazing musicians to create music; its definitely less scary performing with other people! Sometimes I do find the repertoire can be really challenging, especially when the composer has chosen to write in an unusual key. The music I like to play really depends on the instrument Im playing for guitar my absolute favourite composer would have to be Richard Charlton. In the orchestra Im a sucker for the classics but I also love playing more modern music thats been orchestrated. Im a music teacher so I listen to a very wide range of music. I get a bit tired of the content of most radio stations so in my car I usually tune into one of the classical radio stations, but in my music apps I also listen to the more mainstream stuff.
13.01.2022 Some of the Jets and Sharks rehearsing for the West Side Story highlights.
13.01.2022 BMO members out and about..... On Saturday night, BMO members were thrilled to join other local musicians in a fundraising concert to the Cambodia Bush School. It was a lovely evening of music and $5000 was raised for the school. ... https://bushschoolcambodia.com/ Photos by Christene Dupressoir
12.01.2022 Some more photos from our September concert. We were delighted to have students from Blaxland High Singers join us to perform some well-known John Farnham songs. Click or tap the "play" button to start the slideshow. All photos by Chris Parker - thank you!
12.01.2022 Its all go for the 20th Century Giants Concert on 5th May. Hurry and buy your tickets.
12.01.2022 Some wonderful photographs of our September concert, with students from Blaxland High School featuring on vocals. Click or tap the "play" button to start the slideshow. All photos by Chris Parker - thank you!
11.01.2022 MeetAlice Ive been playing flute for 18 years. I joined the orchestra at the beginning of the year. I started playing flute at 10 becausewell, why does a 10 year old do anything? Because my friend did, and I thought it looked fun! I stopped for about 8 years in my 20s, and picked it up again at 30. I also play piccolo, and Ive started learning piano this year. I used to play xylophone in my high school percussion ensemble, which was a heap of fun! Music is my hobby and me...ans everything to me. I try to incorporate it into my life as much as possible, and I play in a flute ensemble, a flute trio, a flute and harp duo and now the orchestra! Ive always loved listening to classical music (and 90s punk and rock!), and now that I play in the orchestra, I find it really rewarding to hear the arrangements from within; being part of the music is great. Playing in the Strauss Serenade for 13 Winds in our last concert was a real highlight for me this year. One thing thats hard about playing in the orchestra is sight-reading! Theres so much fantastic flute music by the French romantic composers Ravel, Faur, Saint-Sans. But my favourite music to play would have to be that of Franz and Karl Doppler, who were flute players themselves. Outside of music, Im a jeweller I love designing and making jewellery, its another creative outlet. Sometimes I regret stopping playing flute for so long, having lost momentum when my teacher left Australia to study in France. Now Ive found a great teacher again, Im finding that learning as an adult is a totally different experience. A good teacher is invaluable find someone who knows your goals and can motivate you to achieve them. Playing in an orchestra is great for improving so many aspects of your playing sight reading, counting, tuning, and exposure to new music you may not have heard before.
10.01.2022 BMO members out and about... part 2 On Sunday night, more members of BMO joined TOPS (The Occasional Performing Symphony) in Sydney Town Hall, supporting a massed choir in a roof-raising and exhilarating performance at Celebration Sing Out! This time, funds were being raised to support music therapy and Westmead Childrens Hospital and over $30,000 was raised on the night! ... (Photos by Merryn Handley and Wendy Merriman)
10.01.2022 Many of our members are involved with Celebration Sing Out! - this Sunday night at Sydney Town Hall. Experience the thrill, power and passion of massed choral singing accompanied by a grand symphony orchestra. All proceeds go to Westmead Childrens Hospital for the provision of music therapy to sick children. ... Sunday 27th October 6:30pm, in the stunning Sydney Town Hall.
09.01.2022 Score and parts in the composers own handwriting! The orchestra is busy rehearsing the program for our next concert, including this piece by Australian composer Miriam Hyde. When the orchestra first performed this work in the 1990s, the composer herself was in the audience! Rehearsing it this time around, we discovered that the second violin part is missing a bar! Once that was all fixed, it sounded so much better...
09.01.2022 What a wonderful concert we had on Sunday - "20th Century Giants". Aisha Hume took great photos under very poor lighting conditions. We thank Aisha and Kiara for quickly processing the photos.
09.01.2022 Learn the rhythms with this easy table.
08.01.2022 Concert for Cambodia The Bush School Cambodia was established in 2010 by Glenbrook residents Doug Frewer and his late wife Christine. It provides a basic education for 130 children in the native Khmer language, English to Intermediate level, maths, IT skills, art and music. The Lions Club of Winmalee adopted the school as a special project in 2010 and continues as an umbrella organization for fundraising in Australia. A Concert for Cambodia will be held at St Finbars C...hurch Hall, Levy St., Glenbrook on Saturday 26th October, commencing 7.30pm. The concert titled From Classics to Abba will feature players from the Blue Mountains Orchestra and the Blue Mountains Concert Band. Tickets are $25 per person, $45 per family (concessions avail.) A generous supper is by gold coin donation Bookings recommended: Phone Doug on 0403 303 943 See also: bushschoolcambodia.com See more
07.01.2022 Roll over Bob Marley......... Aussie Arthur Benjamin put Jamaica on the map! Born in Sydney in 1893, young Arthur showed talent very early and sailed to London to study piano and composition at the Royal College of Music at the age of 18. World War I intervened, and he enlisted for officer training in the Royal Fusiliers, and later joined the Royal Flying Corps as a gunner. Shot down over Germany, he completed the war as a prisoner of war. Benjamin returned to Australia at... wars end, to a position of Professor of Piano at Sydney Conservatorium, but soon returned to London to teach at the Royal College of Music. Among his students were Benjamin Britten and fellow-Australian Peggy Glanville-Hicks. As a performer, composer, adjudicator and examiner, he travelled extensively visiting Australia, Canada and the West Indies, where he heard a tune called Mango Walk, which became his Jamaican Rumba (1938). It became an instant success in different forms, from solo piano to full orchestra. The government of Jamaica was so grateful for the popularity of the piece, and the publicity it gave Jamaica as a good place to visit, that it rewarded Arthur Benjamin with a free barrel of rum every year for the rest of his life! You can hear Benjamins joyful, Jamaican Rumba, at our next concert, Sunday 8 September.
04.01.2022 We honour Australian composer Miriam Hyde in our September program, Australian Journey, as a composer, a pianist, a music educator and a poet, performing her Fantasia on Waltzing Matilda, written in 1936 for the South Australia Centenary theatrical production. The name Miriam Hyde (1913-2005) is well known to several generations of young students of the piano. She was closely associated with the Australian Music Examinations Board from 1945-1982 both as an examiner and as t...he composer of dozens of pieces on the examination lists of the AMEB. Some of those pieces are still there! Born in Adelaide, Miriam showed early talent as a pianist, and at the age of 19 won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London, where she studied composition with Gordon Jacob and piano with Arthur Benjamin, another Australian (also represented in our September concert). Whilst in London, Miriam featured as soloist with several London orchestras under conductors like Malcolm Sargent and Constant Lambert, as well as presenting many solo recitals. Returning to Australia in 1936, she settled in Sydney, establishing herself as one of our finest pianists, and a prolific composer, writing for piano, solo voice and orchestra, including a piano concerto. In 1981 she was awarded an OBE, and in 1991 the Order of Australia. She performed as a concert pianist into her 80s, and gave the final performance of her piano concerto at the age of 89. Do come along to our next concert (see the event on this page) to hear Miriam Hydes Fantasia on Waltzing Matilda, along with other featured Australian composers and musicians. Well see you there!
02.01.2022 More photos from the concert - "20th Century Giants" on Sunday 5th May.
02.01.2022 Music is everywhere... Have a nice weekend.
02.01.2022 Meet...Mary! (a.k.a. The Snake Charmer) Ive been playing clarinet in BMO2 for six months now. I had no musical experience before picking up the clarinet five years ago at the age of 52. There was a clarinet idling away its time after my son gave it up, so I picked it up and started lessons. I love the tone and versatility of the instrument. Ive also learned the alto sax. Playing in the orchestra means that I get to feel a part of the music I love, but I wish we had longer p...ractices! There are so many pieces that I just couldnt do without, especially Bach, even though he didnt compose for the clarinet. I love to play the beautiful, simple melodies of Jean Xavier Lefevre that can be played without any accompaniment. True story: I used to practice in the kitchen and when the children had friends over they nicknamed me the Snake Charmer! Starting later can be an advantage in key ways like being more diligent and listening to advice. Be patient, and dont be embarrassed by mistakes, no matter how frequently they occur. If youre thinking about learning an instrument or playing in an orchestra, just do it! (Image by Nutchanon Tritham from Pixabay)
02.01.2022 MeetGavin When I was 12, I started learning the violin, chosen for me by my parents. I also play trombone. Ive been in BMO2 for 3 years. I love the unmistakable sound the orchestra produces when it all comes together. Music, to me, means relaxation, challenge, and playing in a group. I really like to play soundtrack music, and I listen to everything except country! ... (Image by Pexels from Pixabay)
