By Ron Cerabona
The Young Music Society Summer Festival of Family Concerts. Belconnen Arts Centre, various dates, 6pm. Summer School families: adults $5, children $2; regular tickets: adults $20, concessions $10, children $5. youngmusicsociety.org.au/summer-festival-concerts
The Young Music Society Summer School has been running for 40 years, teaching children for a fortnight about different styles of music. For the first time this year, the society is running a series of Staff Ensemble concerts to showcase a range of musical styles by professionals who are participating as part of the 2015 Summer School.
The Griffyn Ensemble, (from left) Meriel Owen, harp, Chris Stone, violin, Kiri Sollis, flute, Susan Ellis, voice, Holly Downes, bass, and Michael Sollis, director, specialises in contemporary classical music. Credit: Rod Taylor
"We wanted to let the kids and parents see [that] the staff working at our summer school are not just teachers but performing artists," says the society's director, Ben Sutcliffe.
Members of the public are welcome at the concerts too, as a way to raise the profile of the society and its work in music education for children, and so they can enjoy a variety of music performed by artists from Canberra and around Australia.
Dr Jim (left) and Dr Ed (Jim Sharrock and Ed Radclyffe) are members of Australian folk band Dr Stovepipe. Credit: Jeffrey Chan
The Griffyn Ensemble, specialising in contemporary classical music, perform on January 8, Australian folk band Dr Stovepipe play on January 12, and folk-bluegrass group the String Ensemble feature on January 13.
Finally, all 40 of the summer teachers, including the members of D2 Drumline, Jazz Collective and Ultraviolet, perform in a combined staff concert on January 16.