13 Jul Joe Lucas performs a concert for his fellow NCS students (video)
NCS student Joseph Lucas recently joined colleagues from the Junior Royal Academy of Music to perform a concert for his classmates. To accompany the audio, which you can listen too below, Joe has written some notes about his life as a musician and the music played at the concert.
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I started playing viola at the age of 9 through CPC music, a community run music society in South Liverpool. At the age of 11 I was a member of the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain under 12’s orchestra and spent a year there before moving onto play for the Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, where I stayed for 4 years before moving to London. My time in Liverpool kick started my love for classical music and since moving I have only enjoyed it more and more.
I am currently a member of the Junior Royal Academy of Music (JRAM) and the Nation Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (NYO) and am coming to the end of my first year in both. NYO especially has been fantastic for my musical development this year thanks to working with fantastic tutors and conductors and performing amazing pieces in amazing venues. For example we will be performing at the Royal Albert Hall on 5th August this summer as part of the BBC Proms where we will play Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. This performance will be our finish to our summer residency.
The recital was very much a chance for me, Sam (cello), Albert (1st violin) and Raff (2nd violin), all of whom I met at JRAM, to perform some music which we all enjoyed and to develop our performance and chamber music skills. On the flip side of that it was also a chance to bring classical music to NCS.
“Music gives us a language that cuts across the disciplines, helps us to see connections and brings a more coherent meaning to our world.”
-Ernest Boyer
A little about the music:
The 1st String Quartet was composed in 1871 by Tchaikovsky for a recital of his works in the Moscow Conservatory where he was a Professor. At this time he was still a relatively unknown musician and as such had very little money and could therefore not afford for his piece to be written for an expensive orchestra. The quartet being written was a result of this and the fact that his friend Ferdinand Laub (a violinist) offered to perform for him for free. This quartet was the one that rose Tchaikovsky to prominence and is considered by many people to be his best string quartet.