Youth Orchestra Waikato draws upon young musicians from throughout the Waikato. The orchestra caters for young people in the 13-25 age range, although exceptions will be made in certain circumstances. The orchestra rehearses on Friday nights 6.30 - 9.00pm during the secondary school term at the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts, University of Waikato. The orchestra works on four programmes a year.

The YOW Conductors are Athena Shiu, with Associate Conductor Catherine Polglase. They are assisted by an expert team of tutors who are involved in rehearsals and sectional workshops. Catherine is also the YOW manager.

Youth orchestra musicians have the opportunity to take part in other Orchestras Central activities, and attend other Orchestras Central events.

New Members
Secondary or middle school student or full-time waged - $400 GST inclusive (includes cost of YOW T-Shirt)
Tertiary level student in full-time study - $200 GST inclusive (includes cost of YOW T-Shirt)

Returning Members
Secondary or middle school student or full-time waged - $330 GST inclusive
Tertiary level student in full-time study - $165 GST inclusive

In cases of financial hardship please email support@orchestras.org.nz.

Friday 13 February | First rehearsal
Friday 6 March - Sunday 8 March | Weekender at Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts
Friday 27 March | Cambridge Autumn Festival concert
Sunday 21 June | Concert
Saturday 29 August | Central Jam (as part of Central Celebrates) with Te Rauhii, WCSM and YOW Academy
Friday 25 September | Schools tour (Matamata)
Saturday 26 September | Concert (date to be confirmed)
Sunday 8 November | Opportunity to play in Trust Waikato Symphony Orchestra concert
Saturday 5 December | Finale concert

All applicants need to submit:

• a video recording of you playing a solo piece of at least one minute

• your music CV which can be emailed to youth@orchestras.org.nz

Make sure that the recording itself demonstrates the highest possible audio quality so that your performance can be evaluated fairly.

Auditions will be judged on the following points: tone, intonation, style, rhythm, musicality, confidence, and preparation. If you have any questions, please email youth@orchestras.org.nz.

Recording Specifications:

• Please label your video file with the format: Instrument_LastName_FirstName.

• No editing to fix bad notes

• Do not electronically alter a recording (except for combining individual excerpt recordings into one file)

• Always keep an extra copy of your audition recording in case there are problems along the way.

Please contact youth@orchestras.org.nz if you have any concerns.

1. Upload your recording to a file-sharing website (e.g. Dropbox, Google Drive) and set the privacy of the link to 'anyone with this link can view' so we can see it.
   
   OR
   

2. upload your recording to a sharing website (e.g. Youtube or Vimeo) and set to 'unlisted'
   Go to www.youtube.com
   Sign in or create an account
   Click Upload
   Set privacy setting to ‘unlisted’ (this is very important)
   Upload your audition recording

3. Copy and paste the audio link into your online application form.