top of page

HAVE YOUR          SAY.....

Whether you agree or disagree with our critics, we welcome  your comments and will try to include them at the end of the review. 

Please use our contact form 

Kenilworth brothers Join the NYO


Two teenage brothers from Kenilworth - Patrick O'Reilly (18) and Andrew O'Reilly (16) - have earned coveted places with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (NYO). Both string players, the siblings are part of 2023 NYO cohort - made up of an extraordinary collective of 156 teenage musicians from all over the UK who will be performing at Warwick Arts Centre on Saturday 7 January 2023.


Described as 'the world's greatest orchestra of teenagers,' the NYO are renowned for their musicianship and wide repertoire, with their Coventry concert - entitled Odyssey - featuring Richard Strauss's epic; also Sprach Zarathustra (as made famous in Stanley Kubrick’s movie 2001: A Space Odyssey); Benjamin Britten’s Four Sea Interludes, from the composer's opera Peter Grimes; and Rift, a mesmerising work by contemporary English composer Anna Clyne for which the NYO are presenting the first performances in the UK.


Andrew O'Reilly (Cello, Co-Principal) says, “I kept playing the violin like a cello, so for my sixth birthday, my grandparents got me a cello. At NYO, I love playing big orchestral works with fantastic players and I enjoy the wonderful coaching and the magnificent concert halls we get to play in. In the future, I hope to take my experiences back into my school and share them with the local orchestras in my county."


His brother Patrick O'Reilly (Viola, Principal) adds, “I began learning the violin at the age of six before transitioning to viola at the age of 10. My Gran was the main reason - once when visiting her, she said she had a viola for me to try, however I couldn't find it, so my excitement changed quickly to disappointment. When I then got the chance to finally try viola, I absolutely loved it and have never looked back. I then joined the National Children's Orchestra for four years before being privileged to gain a place in NYO in 2019. At this point, I had just begun studying at the Junior Royal Academy of Music after being at the Junior Birmingham Conservatoire for two years previously.


"I believe that opening up orchestral music for my generation is incredibly important and possibly the biggest challenge of the music education system today and I believe as NYO, we can help with that. I think that visiting primary schools and encouraging children to start playing music at a young age is vital."


The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain: Odyssey is at Warwick Arts Centre, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL on Saturday 7 January 2023, at 7.30pm. For tickets and more information, call: 024 7649 6000 or see: www.warwickartscentre.co.uk



bottom of page