Dubai Youth Orchestra strikes a mellifluous chord

Dubai: The word orchestra evokes stereotypical images of serious-looking adults in bow ties with their big instruments and a conductor. But on Friday night, the Dubai Youth Orchestra, dominated by children aged five and up, gave a different meaning to the word.

For their debut concert, the 28-member Dubai Youth Orchestra treated guests to the music of J.S. Bach, Frederic Chopin, Franz Schubert, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, to name a few.

"The pieces are difficult. Mozart is a challenging piece… Moreover, the sound production, the exhibition is something very difficult," Imad Abeidoh, conductor and one of the founders of the orchestra, told Gulf News.

The orchestra's goal, Abeidoh said, is to provide an environment where young musicians can come together to rehearse and perform masterpieces from around the globe. The members' ages, however, are not a hindrance to establishing a standard for the orchestra.

"These children, every one of them, practises one hour every day. And as you may have noticed, we don't try to stick with one style of music… we like to have a wide variety… And every time we do it, we use more and more challenging pieces. This is our main goal," Abeidoh said.

Before the show started, Gulf News met with the orchestra members backstage. The youngest, Iliya Chaaban, five, said: "I play the violin. My favourite piece from what we will perform is Old MacDonald."

Sami Bushnaq, ten, dreams of becoming a violinist, and performed a solo of Oskar Rieding's Concerto in B Minor. Shannon Smith, in her 20s and the oldest in the group, said when it comes to many things, especially music, age is just a number.

The orchestra aims to have one more concert within the year. But they said they need help.

"We need a home to practise. Now, one of my students he rented a warehouse to give us another seven months to practise. We also need to have our own instruments," Nasser Abeidoh, one of the founders of the orchestra, said, adding most of their instruments are borrowed.