The Northern Rivers Symphony Orchestra would like to invite you to join us at our Autumn Concert – ‘Pastoral Interlude’ – with Conductor Warwick Potter and special guest soloists Billy Richardson (oboe), Nathan Christen (clarinet), Preston Ellis (french horn), and Gabrielle Kerin (bassoon) on the 7th April 2019 to be held at the Tweed Civic Centre at 2.30pm.
Warwick Potter, who is no stranger to the NRSO, is the Director and Conductor of The University of Queensland (UQ) Symphony Orchestra and Director of the UQ Wind Ensemble. Professionally, he has conducted the Adelaide, Canberra, Darwin, Queensland, Tasmanian, West Australian Symphony Orchestras and Camerata of St. John’s across a large range of orchestral portfolios.
In the youth ensemble sector, he has conducted the Queensland Youth Symphony (at the express invitation of John Curro), Young Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra, MOST Symphony Orchestra and the Great Public Schools Symphony Orchestra since his move to Brisbane in 2010. He has also been conductor to Queensland Youth Orchestra (QYO) Wind Symphony since 2010.
Warwick likes to use young soloists when at all possible in a community setting. It gives these players the type of priceless experience that they would not usually obtain. Fortunately, the NRSO is also of similar belief. He has chosen the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante for this reason, and for the relative ease for the Orchestra in the context of a crammed rehearsal period.
The four young soloists are Billy Richardson (oboe), Nathan Christen (clarinet), Preston Ellis (french horn), and Gabrielle Kerin (bassoon).
Billy is a former principal oboist with the Australian Youth Orchestra, QYO and UQ Symphony Orchestra, having won several prizes for his solo performances. He graduated from UQ in 2018 with a Bachelor of Law (Honours) and now works as a Judge’s Associate in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia.
Nathan is a second year Bachelor of Music (Honours) student at UQ studying with Kate Travers, and a budding composer. He is a member of UQ Symphony Orchestra and UQ Chorale, and recently joined the Band of the 1st Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, performing in various government events.
Preston Ellis is also a second year Bachelor of Music (Honours) student at UQ and is being taught by Neil Favell. He has held the position of section principal in the QYO’s Wind Symphony since 2017 and is also an accomplished pianist, having achieved AMusA in piano at the age of 16.
Gabrielle Kerin is a naturally gifted bassoonist who is currently studying in fourth year Bachelor of Music (Honours) at UQ under the tutelage of Dr Warwick Potter. She is currently the principal bassoonist for the UQ Symphony Orchestra as well as the Queensland Youth Symphony (QYS). She toured internationally with QYS in 2017 and this year has been invited to do a solo performance for the upcoming ‘No Strings Attached’ concert at St John’s Cathedral in August.
Mozart’s delightful Magic Flute Overture starts the concert and Beethoven’s (Pastoral) Symphony No 6 ends this afternoons program. The Northern Rivers Symphony Orchestra look forward to working with Warwick Potter and these young musicians and hope you (dear reader) could join us to give them a warm welcome.