By Raven Highley
On the 12th of December, St. Joseph’s college was the host for Reading Youth Orchestra’s Christmas Concert: Carmen’s Slay Ride.
The concert opened with it’s namesake, Aragonaise and Intermezzo from Carmen Suite No. 1 by Georges Bizet. Despite it not being a Christmas piece, the tone was appropriately festive, suiting the time of year with jingly percussion and lively brass and strings creating the feel of a festive dance. The full piece will be played at the orchestra’s Spring Concert on the 21st of March 2026 which will be open to the public. If these two sections are anything like the full performance, it will be well worth attending for this piece alone. The emotive delivery and nature of the piece allowed individual sections talent to truly shine.
The Carmen Suite was followed by a selection of duets, quartets and solos from a variety of members. This was opened by two duets performed by George Suckling and Samuel Lau. The first being Study No. 5 from 15 Etudes for Cello (David Popper), a regal and scalic duet while the second, Broadway (Aaron Minsky), had a more groovy and energetic approach. The contrast made a fabulous opening to this section of the evening. Keeping the upbeat and dance-like tone, Cherylene Lin and Mahima Perika performed Hungarian Dance No.5 by Johannes Brahms. This was followed by a quartet made up of Kenjer Abzhanov, Cherylene Lin, Aarush Podishetty and George Suckling, playing Jig (1st Movement from St Paul’s Suit) by Gustav Holst. This lively rendition of the piece wouldn’t sound out of place on a pirate ship. This was contrasted beautifully by Alfie Hatton performing Walking in the Air by Howard Blake followed by Taylor Tse performing his own composition, Romance (from Saxophone Concerto). These yearning pieces were then contrasted again by Thomas Cheung performing 1st Movement of Trombone Concerto by Launy Grøndahl followed by a virtuosic performance by George Suckling of Toccata (Ara Khachaturian).
The night was closed off wonderfully by the full orchestra playing Habanera from Carmen Suite No.2, again by Georges Bizet. While the most famous piece from the Carmen Suite isn’t going to be played at RYO’s spring concert, hearing such a recognisable piece played by talented young players was a highlight of the night.
Finally, Sleigh Ride by Leroy Anderson made for a jolly and festive end to the evening, complete with percussion reindeers. If this evening was anything to go by, March 21st will be a spectacular display of young talent.