The BlueScope Youth Orchestra performed at the 45th annual Bali Arts Festival as well as with Voice of Bali Choir
During the first week of July, WollCon’s BlueScope Youth Orchestra performed a series of important relationship building and culture exchange concerts in Bali, including a televised performance at the 45th annual Bali Arts Festival with the world-famous Voice of Bali Children’s Choir.
The combined Orchestra and Choir performance featured traditional Australian and Indonesian folk songs. The program (both English and Bahasa Indonesia) included a narrator to explain to an Indonesian audience the historical significance, popularity and meaning of the songs performed.
BlueScope Youth Orchestra also performed at Bali’s largest children’s orphanages (for the blind) and at a large regional aged care facility. They were also hosted by the Australian Consul General in the Balinese capital of Denpasar where they played for VIPs and invited guests.
And of special interest for our local musicians, one other concert was especially ‘for the elephants’ at the Mason Adventure Park in Ubud.
“It is such a huge honour for the Orchestra to be invited by the Governor of Bali to perform at the world-famous Bali Arts Festival. For this we have Professor Tim Lindsey, Peter O’Neill and Dr Rob Goodfellow of Yogya Santai to thank. Not only have they assisted the BlueScope Youth Orchestra with their expertise on Indonesia and their high-level contacts, but they are also assisting us on the ground as volunteers.”
This visit builds on the orchestra’s last tour of Indonesia in 2005, when they played a royal command performance for the Sultan of Yogyakarta at the royal palace.
Dr Goodfellow of Yogya Santai says, “these concerts bring people together and establish friendships based on the mutual love of culture. We’e building on a quarter of a century of close engagement between Wollongong and Indonesia fostered by diverse individuals and organisations including the Wollongong Conservatorium of Music, Wollongong City Council and The University of Wollongong.”
“The clear message, of young Australians and young Indonesians working together to explain their respective traditional cultures before a national audience, is an exciting one.” Said Tanya Phillips.
ABOUT BlueScope Youth Orchestra
BlueScope Youth Orchestra is WollCon’s premier senior orchestra aged between 14-21yrs, managed by Tanya Phillips and conducted by Nigel Edwards. BlueScope Youth Orchestra is supported by the BlueScope Win Community Partnership Fund.
