A teenager with a passion for music is looking forward to the new year after she was selected for a regional scholarship through the Sydney Youth Orchestras in mid-December.
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Anabelle van Wyk, 13, has been playing the saxophone for about three-and-a-half years and will join the Sydney Youth Orchestra's Symphonic Wind Orchestra.
"I was really surprised, I did not expect it at all because I'm probably one of the younger ages to go into it. It's really exciting," Anabelle said.
Anabelle will play alto saxophone in the orchestra but she also plays tenor saxophone, the violin and piano.
She said the orchestra rehearses every week but due to the distance she hopes to travel to Sydney every second week to participate in the four-hour rehearsals.
The orchestra will be an addition to her extra curricular activities including tennis and various music groups at Kinross Wolaroi School including koristers, concert band, stage band, orchestra and chamber strings.
Anabelle will also study grade six or seven saxophone this year.
"I did grade five [in 2020] but grade two [in 2019]," she said.
Anabelle almost didn't get to learn the saxophone after she was told her hands were too small and she was advised to learn clarinet instead. However she put her foot down and her decision is paying off.
The Symphonic Wind Orchestra has more than 70 young wind, brass and percussion musicians from across NSW and its repertoire ranges from 20th Century film scores and jazz songs through to orchestral pieces.
Musicians aged 11 years and older can apply and usually the orchestra holds large-scale public concerts, regional tours and intensive rehearsals and tutorials however, the pandemic affected performance opportunities in 2020.
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