By Raven Highley
On Friday 4th July 2025, Reading Youth Orchestra rounded off another successful term with their summer performance at Loddon Primary School in Earley. A wide variety of pieces were played by both the full orchestra and a handful of solo and duet performers, in the theme of “From Dance to Drama” – showcasing the full talent of the orchestra both collectively and as individual young musicians.
The evening got an impressive start with No. 8 from Slavonic Dances by Antonín Dvořák, the opening upbeat melody played in unison making for a captivating opening. This was followed by a stirring cello duet of No. 2 from Fifteen Etudes by David Popper. The creatively named Bach Cello Suite No.⚡was arranged and performed by Nolan Chenchery, using a loop pedal to put together a Baroque-style piece by Hauser, Thunderstruck by AC/DC and Demons by Imagine Dragons. The effective blend of familiar pieces made for a striking change of pace, with the loop pedal giving a fuller and layered sound.
The next full orchestra pieces, Nicholas Hare arrangements of Can You Feel the Love Tonight by Elton John and Tim Rice and Star Wars by John Williams, allowed the percussion section’s contribution to shine through and provided emotional contrast with one another. The piano and saxophone duet of Shostakovich’s Waltz No. 2 from Jazz Suite No. 2 briefly shifted away from film scores and back to the dances of the opening, this time offering a graceful contrast to the livelier Hungarian dance piece that opened.
The evening rounded off with a full orchestra rendition of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo & Juliet Overture, a reduced arrangement by David Andrew. Despite being an abridged version of the full twenty minute piece, the beauty and tension of the timeless star-crossed tragedy Tchaikovsky was trying to capture came across perfectly, wrapping up a brilliant and entertaining evening. A term’s worth of hard work by the young musicians of Reading Youth Orchestra was on full display – bring on the autumn term.