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Snowy Strings: Nurturing a Love of Music
January 16, 2011
We are happy to announce that the Snowy Mountains Strings Orchestra, invited by The Puls Polonii Cultural Foundation, will perform in Charlotte Pass Village on Saturday 12, February 12 during A Day of Fun at Kosciuszko Run. We are even more happy to announce that some Jindabyne families will host, for three days, our guests from America - the Chicago Music Academy Ensemble - who will also perform during A Day of Fun at Kosciuszko Run. Both youth orchestras plan music workshops and a school concert in Jindabyne on Thursday, February 10.
Music teacher Mary-Anne Simpson has, in the last few years, become well known in the community for her work in helping local children to realise their musical potential. The good news is that she will now be concentrating on private teaching and establishing musical groups within the community. Mary-Anne currently teaches students at JCS and Snowy Mountains Grammar School, tutoring in classical guitar, viola, violin, piano and cello.
 Entitled Snowy Strings, Mary-Anne’s new business will focus on individual students and developing their solo and ensemble skills and providing tuition for all levels: from beginners to more accomplished musicians.
A mother of five children, Mary-Anne said that she believes this is the right time to start Snowy Strings and has seen the interest in classical music develop considerably throughout the community during her last six years in the Snowy Mountains. Mary-Anne said: “Starting up the Snowy Strings Orchestra is a way of providing youth in the area with the opportunity to play music in a social setting, improve their skills and give something back to the local community by way of musical performances.”
Debut for the Snowy Mountains String Orchestra
Saturday 6 November at the Gaden Trout Hatchery Family Picnic Day was the first time that the ‘Snowy Mountains String Orchestra’ has performed in public. Conductor and local music teacher Maryanne Simpson said that the group hopes to be involved in many more community events in the lead-up to their planned tour of Brisbane in 2011.
In Brisbane, Maryanne said that they will get the opportunity to workshop with Keith Sharp, one of Australia’s most renowned string composers. The group will also have the opportunity to workshop with the coordinator of ‘Deep Blue’, an orchestra well known for its stage extravaganzas combining strings, dance and drama. “We have to learn new elements so that we can bring them into our performances”, Maryanne said.
‘Snowy Mountains String Orchestra’ has been in the pipeline for over three months and incorporates children from Snowy Mountains Grammar and the Jindabyne Central School, with an age group of 7 to 16 years.
Maryanne says that if there is anyone in the community who is interested in joining the 30 strong youth ensemble, she would be happy to talk to them.
The big string orchestra concept is just the start for Maryanne who envisages that it will give birth to smaller groups like quartets. Maryanne has already started a boys group called ‘The Band from Snowy River’ and for the younger children ‘The Snowflakes’.
Rob Thomas
(From the Snowy River Echo, December 2010)
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