We played Beethoven Symphony No.9, which was first performed in 1824, it was revolutionary as no one had ever written a longer symphony before or used an orchestra that large before. It was a pleasure to play next to members of the BSO, my incredibly talented peers and staff from Hampshire Music Service, the standard was amazing and really made the whole experience.

We first played through the fourth movement which has one of the most recognisable melodies of ‘Ode to Joy’. It changes tempo fairly frequently but it was amazing to hear an orchestra that had been formed 10 minutes ago be so in-sync and create such a full sound. When we rehearsed this later with the choir and soloists the sound produced by everyone was incredible; you wouldn’t have thought that we’d only rehearsed together for one day.

Pete Harrison, the conductor who also studied as a bassoonist, said that he was really pleased young people had this opportunity to work with top professionals and also our staff from HMS and local amateurs because it’s not often that this can happen. Pete was a very inspiring conductor and many of my peers and I felt privileged to work with a conductor as inspiring as him.

One of my favourite parts of the day was to work with so many friends from different ensembles but also the BSO players. The bassoon section I was in was made of myself and another young bassoonist from Hampshire, a brilliant member of staff at HMS and Tammy Thorn the principal bassoon of the BSO. Talking to Tammy, who’s been in the BSO for 8 years, she said she loved working with the next generation of musicians, and that it was enjoyable for her to work with us as many of my peers and I may be trying to follow the path she’s taken to become a musician. Getting a job in an orchestra involves auditions, trials and a lot of practice, which for many of us wanting to become musicians is what we’ll need to do. It’s not an easy job, but she was really inspiring saying that if you work for something you’ll get there.

To finish the day, we played the whole symphony as a performance with a full choir and soloists. It was amazing to gain this experience with some of the BSO and everyone really enjoyed playing with different people and having this opportunity!

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