Junior School Pupil Chosen For National Children’s Orchestra

Churcher's College Junior School pupil, Shoshana Yugin-Power, has been selected for the National Children’s Orchestra (NCO) 2018 to play the flute.  

10-year-old Shoshana auditioned alongside 1200 children for a place and was thrilled to be successful, with flute places being one of the most competitive instruments.

Shoshana has played the flute for just over 4 years since she was 6 years old and is currently preparing for Grade 8. She has been taught by peripatetic teachers at Churcher’s College Junior School, Sally Shillabeer, and Simon Diggens.  Musically gifted, Shoshana also plays the recorder and is taking Grade 7 soon, as well as working to Grade 7 on the piano.  She recently got a distinction for Grade 5 singing and has just started teaching herself the bassoon.

Shoshana said: 

I am so excited to be part of a national symphonic orchestra!   I love playing the flute, as well as my other instruments and worked really hard for this audition.  There were lot of brilliant musicians participating which made it even more special that I was selected – it’s a great honour!  I would like to be a professional musician when I grow up.

Shoshana will join the South Easterly Orchestra once a month for rehearsals.  All young musicians who play in one of the national age-banded orchestras are also offered membership of a regional orchestra that will perform an annual concert in November.   This allows NCO members to meet every month between courses and rehearse repertoire with other NCO members in the region. The U11 Orchestra attends a summer school at Port Regis School in Dorset, which culminates in a concert at the end.

Ffion Robinson, Head of Churcher’s College Junior School, said:

We are very proud of Shoshana’s musical achievement. Almost half our Junior School children play an instrument in peripatetic lessons at school which offer many learning and development benefits as well as progression with their instrument of choice. It’s wonderful to see such talent being  recognised  and I’m looking forward to seeing Shoshana play in concert soon!

About the National Children’s Orchestra (NCO)

NCO vision:  To be the leading training ground for professional classical musicians of the future.

NCO provides a world-class foundation in orchestral performance and musicianship to musically talented children in the UK aged between 7 and 14 years.

The NCO was founded in 1978 to provide younger musicians with the opportunity to develop their talents in a national symphonic orchestra.

NCO is the only organisation that operates on a national scale in the UK catering for children in the 7-14 years old age group who show an early spark of musical talent and potential.

NCO concert performances have a well-deserved reputation for extraordinary musicality and technical accomplishment, at standards generally expected of adult professionals. The repertoire is varied and challenging and drawn from Classical, Romantic, 20th and 21st-century music as well as film scores. 

NCO orchestras continue to delight and inspire audiences with exhilarating concerts of outstanding musicianship:  http://www.nco.org.uk