Standing ovation for students at Tung Auditorium concert
Five Student Doctors stunned audiences at the Tung Auditorium during their recent performance alongside the Liverpool University Symphony Orchestra – so much so that they received a standing ovation.
Students Anna Bennett (Year Four), Jamie Coskun (Year Two), Olivia Greene (Year Four), Georgia Jenkins (Year 5) and Alastair Patefield (Year Five) have dedicated numerous hours throughout the year rehearsing with the Orchestra, keeping their creativity and musical skills alive alongside their studies.
Principal violinist Georgia Jenkins reflects on the performance – her final one as a University of Liverpool student before she graduates this summer.
“We performed with the Liverpool University Symphony Orchestra alongside Gethyn Jones from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic as conductor. I acted as principal violinist and Jamie Coskun was principal flautist. It was a hugely enjoyable concert with a standing ovation from the audience at the end.
We have been rehearsing weekly since the end of September, and perform twice a year in the Tung, with sectional workshops from RLPO members each term.
We’ve all really enjoyed rehearsing and performing with the orchestra through the year, and it’s been great to keep up our creative and musical skills alongside our studies.
We performed Dvorak's 8th Symphony, Brahms Academic Festival Overture and a number of works from Verdi operas with the UoL Chamber Choir. In recent years we have been exploring the hugely neglected works of female composers - in this concert we also performed the French composer Cecilé Chaminade's Concertino for Flute and Orchestra from 1902 which was a particular highlight.
To receive a standing ovation from the audience was really amazing - I was so proud of what we as an orchestra had achieved and I was quite emotional as this was my final performance as a University of Liverpool student.
The Tung is an amazing venue to perform and rehearse in. It's rare as an amateur musician to have access to a venue with such amazing acoustics.
I've been playing violin in orchestras for over 15 years, and I hugely value the connections I've made with other musicians, these have stayed with me even as I've moved around to live in different parts of the UK. I'm hoping to join a new symphony orchestra in Liverpool when I graduate this summer and start foundation training.
Even when I've felt tired after days of placement, getting to rehearsal always feels like a refreshing change of scene and a chance to work a different part of my brain and enjoy the challenges of rehearsing classical music.
Ensemble playing is an enjoyable way to build my team working skills alongside understanding the role of my own individual music part and the technical skills of playing the violin to perform the music to the best of my ability. This balance of your own role with awareness of the wider ensemble has a lot of similarities to the MDT teams we learn with on placement.”
Discover More
- See what’s on at the Tung Auditorium (link)