We are delighted to be hosting our mid-year youth concert on Sunday 20 July at 5 pm, St Andrew’s on The Terrace and hope you will join us. The concert will feature top young musicians in the Wellington region, a number of whom participated in the National Youth Orchestra last weekend. The chamber ensembles were chosen from our coaching sessions in May. Ngā Korimako, the Wellington Girls’ College and Wellington College SATB choir is a national finalist in this year’s Big Sing.
What a fantastic performance NYO gave on Saturday evening 15 July in Wellington. Music Futures supported one NYO musician this year. We chose Fengyao Liu who is 14 years old, plays violin and is Concertmaster for Wellington Youth Orchestra. Our Treasurer Thu Phuong Troung and I met her on Saturday evening at the post-concert reception. She is a delightful young woman and was ‘over the moon’ about her experience during the NYO week.
We have had a very busy year to date. We gave out a total of $6,100 in our annual awards round to 2 groups (one group involving applications from 8 individuals) and 16 individual musicians. The adjudication panel was really challenged to make their selection from 33 applicants altogether. Your membership and donations help to fund this key programme. It is so important to encourage young musicians and offering them a small award ($500 or under) is a big boost to their confidence and helps them with their costs for lessons, course and exam fees and instrument upkeep.
In May we held a very successful coaching weekend at the New Zealand School of Music. We are so grateful to NZSM for supporting this annual event. Altogether we had 23 groups and 72 students participate, 14 groups and 50 students in Wellington and another 9 groups and 22 students at Kāpiti College. Gioia Brunoro, Head of Music at KC wrote: “I just wanted to fill you in on how Saturday went. Roger was brilliant: he was totally encouraging and his remarks were completely on point. The kids loved their sessions. He was so positive and perceptive. The Saturday slot 10 July 2025 worked really well...The kids are inspired and have been galvanised into organising their own independent rehearsals. As usual, I was inwardly seething as Roger mentioned things that I had said a hundred times before and the kids responded to him as though they had never heard the recommendations before!!!
Roger Brown was one of 7 tutors to whom we pay an honorarium to deliver coaching sessions. The TG McCarthy Trust helps with our coaching programme in Wellington and Kapiti, although this year we have again received less than requested (we are still very grateful for this grant) and had to top up our costs from our annual budget. We were fortunate to receive a grant of $2000 in May from the Mokoia Masonic Trust who have been such marvellous supporters over several years.
And for those who are interested we have now re-registered under the Incorporated Societies Act 2022, having agreed a new Constitution at our AGM in May.
Thank you very much to those of who have already paid the annual subscription and/or given us a donation this year. It is not too late to pay your annual subscription of $25 or make a donation (tax deductible, Charities Registration CC48539). Please pay direct to our bank account and send us an email with your details for a receipt: [email protected]
Kind regards Lynne Dovey, Chair, on behalf of the Music Futures Committee Brigid O’Meeghan, Larry Reese, Martin Riseley. Brendan Agnew, Phuong Truong, Elizabeth Warren and Rob Hole
