Two pupils from King’s Monkton School in Cardiff have recently toured with the prestigious National Youth Orchestra for Wales which commenced rehearsals in August.

As part of the ensemble, the girls joined the 2009 concert tour of Wales and the UK together with other young musicians in a series of residential courses culminating in performances at some of the finest concert halls across the country, including venues in Birmingham, Gateshead, Hereford (as part of the Three Choirs Festival), Aberystwyth and Bangor before returning to Cardiff for the pinnacle of the tour at St David’s Hall. They will also be embarking on a proposed tour of Europe in 2010.

Both Amelia Morgan and Elin Parry of year 12 were accepted to play viola in the string section. Starting off on the violin, the girls have been keen musicians from an early age (Elin began at the tender age of 4) and between them play the clarinet, piano, oboe and violin together with the viola.

The first National Youth Orchestra in the world and a flagship of youth music in Wales, the National Youth ensembles look to actively promote the idea of a pyramid system where students firstly support their school music ensembles as well as their local county groups and only then are they eligible to perform for any of the national ensembles.

The girls are both key members of the School Orchestra and also play with outside ensembles – Amelia with the Rhondda Symphony Orchestra and Four Counties Youth Orchestra and Elin with Cardiff County and Vale Youth Orchestra. Elin is also a member of the National Youth Wind Orchestra which last year toured Luxembourg.

Mrs Shan Murphy, Head of Music commented:

“The girls are both extremely talented musicians and have worked very hard to earn their places. It is a very competitive environment and hundreds of students from around the country vie for a place so they have done phenomenally well. We are all very proud of them at Kings Monkton”.

The NYOW is part of National Youth Arts Wales and the ensembles offer a fantastic opportunity for talented young musicians to make high quality music with like minded individuals from across Wales, receive tutoring from professional musicians and work with some of the best conductors in their field.