S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 3 I S S U E 6 6 Youth arts participants performing at this year's National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) Youth Arts Showcase at the National Library, Dublin. National Youth Arts Showcase 2013 Highlights Importance of the Arts for Young People On the 3rd of July, arts”, he didn’t have any good news on the State The National Youth funding front. Council of Ireland, “Funding will not be demolished but it will be with the Irish reduced,” he warned, urging groups to look for Association of Youth alternative sources of income. Orchestras, Children's Books Ireland, National Association In a recent article printed in The Irish Times, the for Youth Drama and Young Irish Film Makers NYCI are credited with providing as much ran this year's Youth Arts Showcase. Officially access to the arts as possible. It is proven that opened by Minister for Arts, Heritage and creative pursuits offer teens solace and enduring Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan, the annual event pleasure, but access to the arts is patchy, and aims to showcase the exceptional quality of with the Minister's comments and our ongoing 3 youth arts activity happening throughout Ireland economic situation remaining downcast, 9 and celebrate the contribution of youth arts to the increasing this access will remain to be a 1 5 lives of young people and to Irish society. It also problem. 1 . gives young performers the opportunity to speak 2 d “The National Youth Arts Showcase allows us to 4 directly with politicians and policy makers on the n a share and celebrate a small proportion of the 1 l benefits they have found from being active in the 2 e massive contribution young people make to our r e arts. I i 3 . rich cultural heritage,” said Anne O'Gorman of , 5 o k 3 Although the Minister described all the y the NYCI Youth Arts Programme, speaking at the r + a o i performers at the showcase as “living proof of : event. C x , why young people should have access to the w a y F w a u w 5 Q : 8 e s t 1 ’ i s e 5 b p 1 e o 2 P W 4 0 1 5 e 2 i , . e 3 o s 5 y u 3 a o i d + H @ e : t t o i e f s n m n u i i o r L : h T l i p c O i a e l Y v i m e A I C T E Welcome members and friends to the September 2013 issue of IAYO Hugh Maguire: 1926 ­ 2013 Newsnotes. As always, there has been plenty of activity over the summer months and there seems to be a greater involvement in music activity by young people over the holidays than ever before. We have also seen lots of new activity with local summer camps held by Music Generation in six counties in a variety of genres this year. The big news in IAYO at the moment is that we are approaching twenty years since the foundation of the association. IAYO was founded on 17th April 1994 at an inaugural meeting in Ennis with Andrew Robinson as Chairman and at which Agnes O'Kane was elected as Honorary Secretary with regional representatives elected from Dublin and each province. Curiously, the way numbers work, the twentieth IAYO Festival of Youth Orchestras is due to be held in February 2015, within the birthday year of IAYO's 20th and we are beginning plans to make this into an extra­special event, a gathering of the tribes to represent all the great work that has happened in youth orchestras over the last twenty years in Ireland, the growing numbers of orchestras and young players and the growth in the level of achievements of those young people in taking on ever more challenging programming. We have set a date of Saturday 7th February for the 20th Anniversary Celebrations at the National Concert Hall with the potential of extra events over that weekend. We would really like to hear from all Hugh Maguire, honourary President of IAYO and the founder of members who would like to be part of this event and to hear how you the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland and ConCorda, passed think we should celebrate. Please do let us know. The official away recently aged 86. application window for the 20th Festival is now open until Friday 1st Hugh was a violinist of huge talent from an early age, growing up November 2013. in a musical Dublin family. Such was his potential that he was Looking forward to meeting many of you over the coming months. offered a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1 944, making his Wigmore Hall debut three years later. The next Allin Gray. period of his life involved a trip to Paris for further study with Georges Enescu and a brief stint with the London Philharmonic Orchestra before becoming leader of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in 1 952. IAYO AGM 2013 After four years with the BSO, Hugh became the leader of the London Symphony Orchestra at a time of dissent, and played a The IAYO Annual General Meeting will be held in Galway this part in returning the reknowned ensemble to stability. He enjoyed year on Sunday 6th October 201 3, at St Mary's College. The 6 years as leader of this orchestra, nearly accepting but finally venue has been chosen because our own Chamber Music turning down numerous offers to become leader of the RTÉ Course will be taking place in the same venue that weekend. Symphony Orchestra before joining the BBC Symphony Orchestra, again as leader, in 1 962. Hugh left the orchestral scene in 1 968 to pursue chamber music, Causeway Youth Exchange forming a piano trio with cellist Jacqueline Du Pré and pianist Fou Causeway is a British-Irish exchange programme that aims Ts’ong, as well as leading the Cremona String Quartet (recording to strengthen and improve relationships between young Boccherini and Haydn with guitarist Julian Bream), the Allegri people, and those that work with them, on the islands of String Quartet (recording quartets by leading British composers, Britain and Ireland. and frequently bringing the quartet to play in Ireland), and later the Melos Ensemble. Causeway projects bring together two or more of the eligible partner countries, promote team working and joint activities, It was during this period of his life that he was in and out of provide a valuable avenue for young people to explore their Abbey Road Studios, and he later recalled how he enjoyed perceptions of identity and invariably deal with issues of hearing his playing on the Beatles' recording of Hey Jude. tolerance and diversity. In 1 970 he founded the Irish Youth Orchestra (now called the There is more information on Causeway and how to get National Youth Orchestra of Ireland) with Olive Smith, and funding/grants at www.causewayyouth.org conducted them for more than 20 years, directing it in a landmark performance of the difficult Rite of Spring by Stravinsky in 1 991 . In 1 994 he founded ConCorda with his wife Tricia, which was based on the ProCorda training courses in Leiston in Suffolk EMI Music Sound Foundation where he had taught. ConCorda is now Ireland's largest youth Awards & Bursaries strings course. The EMI Music Sound Foundation provides two types of awards: Although Hugh was known as a mild mannered man, he was not Firstly, the Instrument and/or Equipment awards which allows afraid to speak his mind on musical matters, and there were schools, music teachers and individuals in full time education to numerous instances of him voicing his concerns and apply directly to the Foundation for assistance with the purchase disagreements with various conductors throughout his life. His of musical instruments and/or equipment. Secondly, the Bursary own musicianship was something special and natural, with music awards which allow students to apply for assistance with fees effortlessly flowing out of his violin in it's own distinctive tone. and/or living expenses (these are handled directly by the He was pre-deceased by his wife, Tricia Catchpole (née Block), college/organisation). who died in February, and is survived by his sister Monty and For more details on both awards please visit brothers Elias and Francis, his first wife, the dancer Suzanne www.emimusicsoundfoundation.com Lewis, and their five children, Simon, Caroline, Rachael, Anna, and Philip. IAYO Conducting Course ­ A Participant's Point of View Louise Foxe recently attended the IAYO Conducting Workshop in the enjoyable, and eye-opening too, to hear Bobby’s anecdotes Royal Irish Academy of Music as an observer and kindly wrote a piece on from the world of conducting and conducting courses her experience. because it gave us a view into what’s involved and the I applied for the IAYO Conducting Workshop this year experiences that people have. because I like to do a conducting course every so often to I suppose I could recommend that we get notes from the refresh my memory and skills. I’ve attended the Association course to take home with the most basic points on them, but of Irish Choirs' choral conducting course in UL twice and I’m really just suggesting that for the sake of suggesting enjoyed it very much but it was great to find a course near to something, because we all took our own notes in our own where I live.