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Top Five Highlights: TSO in the North

8 April 2024

February started with much toe tapping and jiving as the TSO headed to George Town and Launceston. The TSO set up residence in the north with family concerts, school concerts, a schools workshop and a TSO Strings performance led by Concertmaster Emma McGrath. Here are the Artistic Development team, Kim Waldock and Jack Machin’s, top 5 highlights from the jam-packed weekend.

1. A TASMANIAN PREMIERE

George Town was up first, with a families concert, Listen and Dance. This included the Tasmanian premiere of Maria Grenfell’s piece Little Puggles Song! Read beautifully by presenter Jane Longhurst, this new piece interchanges storytelling and music to portray the story of a young echidna, Puggle, finding their voice. It is a beautiful exploration of the sounds of Australian birds and wildlife and the music made as they harmonise together and was a hit of the tour.

2. A DANCING AUDIENCE

We also performed popular dance music from all over the world including Brahms, Mancici, Offenbach, Rossini and Tchaikovsky. After encouragement from Jane to get involved, we loved seeing a few young future ballerinas step up for impromptu solos and dance the night away!

3. STUDENTS HAVING A BALL

The next day it was a joy to see over 800 school children attend two school concerts at Scotch Oakburn College, with Scotch Oakburn generously loaning their buses to other local schools to bring them to the concerts. Teachers reported afterwards that students were raving about the concerts to both teachers and their parents. What a pleasure it is to connect with students and help build a love of music!

4. CONNECTING OVER MUSIC

Next up, our TSO musicians led instrument workshops and master-classes. This culminated in a large ensemble conducted by our new Learning & Community Projects Manager, Jack Machin, which went down a treat.

5. TSO STRINGS ON SHOW

Our final highlight was the TSO strings performance for our Launceston audience on the final evening. Both audience and musicians had a wonderful time, with many loving the intimate, relaxed and varied elements of the concert. We also had great feedback about our MC, Principal Cello Jonathan Bekes. Everyone agreed he was a hoot!

The TSO is proud to reach students and music lovers all across the state.  Please consider supporting our community and schools programs to help us increase our reach far and wide.

TSO will be up north again this month for our collaboration with Tassie locals, the Wolfe Brothers.  Tickets were in hot demand and our Launceston Concert has sold out! Don’t forget to read about how this unlikely collaboration came to be.