Newsletter No 2

Dear Member,

As we move rapidly towards the heats of our 2010 competition, we thought it would be an appropriate time to make contact with you all again. We were delighted with the response when we decided to develop our group of supporters (Members) of the competition and hope that you will continue to take an interest in our talented youngsters throughout the year and on into future competitions.

The heats of this year’s West Suffolk Young Musician, to which you are all most welcome to attend, will be held in the second week of February. Entry is free and it is your first opportunity to hear the wealth of talent from which the adjudicators will select those musicians who will go forward and play in the Finalists’ Concert in Bury’s prestigious Theatre Royal at 7.00pm on Monday 12th July. The Piano and Vocal heats take place in the Performing Arts building at County Upper School, Beetons Way, Bury St.Edmunds IP32 6RF on Monday 8th February. They both start at 6.30pm and run simultaneously. We are pleased to welcome back Daniela Bechly to adjudicate the 17 vocalists and John Stafford the 15 pianists on the night. The Brass, String and Woodwind heats will all be held at 6.30pm on Tuesday 9th February at Westley Middle School, Oliver Road, Bury St Edmunds IP33 3JB. On this occasion the adjudicators will be David Bolton for the 11 Brass entries, Anna Appleton for the 12 Strings and Debbie Rogers for the 14 Woodwind players.

The funds raised during the last year have been put to good use in our move to independence from Suffolk Sinfonia. We now have our own web-site www.wsym.org.uk, postal address and logo, as above. The web-site is being developed all the time and is well worth a visit. We would welcome any suggestions and comments from you and encourage you to make contact if you think of anything to help promote these young musicians. We are also spending money on printing cards for membership application and are investigating the possibility of having some advertising banners made. We, on the committee, feel this is all moving towards an appealing and professional look for West Suffolk Young Musician.

We are also looking for someone who would like to become a Members’ Secretary to keep records of membership and produce a newsletter like this three or four times a year, to keep everyone up-dated. If anyone feels able to help, then please do get in touch.

Our patron Dominic Seldis (www.dominicseldis.com) Principal Double Bass with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam continues to take an active interest in the competition and has said he would love to join us at the Final Concert if his busy concert schedule permits!

For the first time, some of our finalists from last year’s competition will be performing in a Finalists’ Showcase Recital 1.10pm in the Theatre Royal on Thursday 4th March. This is a Theatre Royal promotion in their Lunchtime Concert series which we hope may become an annual event if successful. It will be a varied concert given by Neema Binu (piano), Tom Ping (violin), Emma Cowper (oboe) and Catherine Harrison (soprano). James Thomas will be the accompanist. We hope to see some of you there. (Tickets available from the Theatre Royal Box Office 01284 769505 or www.theatreroyal.org )  

Many thanks again, on behalf of our young musicians, for your valued support,

Neil Carlson - Chairman