Classic concert features French Horn
By Madeleine Murray – courtesy of the Tweed Valley Weekly
THE NORTHERN Rivers Symphony Orchestra (NRSO) will perform an exciting concert featuring an unusual solo instrument – the French Horn.
Virtuoso Preston Ellis, who is only 22 years old, will perform Richard Strauss’ French Horn concerto No. 1, on Sunday afternoon, October 30.
Preston’s career began at a young age but at the age of 11, his enthusiasm led him to the French Horn.
“I love the horn because of its versatility and its huge capacity for expression,” Preston told the Tweed Weekly.
In 2017, Preston was invited to perform with the University of Queensland and to play his first major orchestral work, Mahler’s second symphony. This experience gave Preston tremendous artistic satisfaction and was the start of his love for orchestral works.
In 2018, Preston started his tertiary studies at The University of Queensland (UQ).
For the next two years, he performed regularly with the UQ Symphony Orchestra and with the Xi’an Symphony Orchestra in the Shanxi Provence of China.
“To play with the Xian symphony Orchestra was probably what gave me the motivation to make music my career,” Preston said. “I was lucky enough to play Symphony No. 1 ‘Titan’ by Gustav Mahler and I remember the full body sensation I felt in the first rehearsal that l would like to devote my life to music.”
NRSO, conducted by Marco Bellasi, presents Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss, and Dvorak Symphony No. 3. The concert is on Sunday, 30 October from 2:30-5:00pm at the Tweed Heads