Bromley Youth Chamber Orchestra

Bromley Youth Chamber Orchestra (BYCO) was formed in 1977 and is part of the Bromley Youth Music Trust. It regularly appears in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Fairfield Hall Croydon, St Martin in the Fields, The Royal Naval College, Southwark Cathedral, St John's Smith Square, The Queen Elizabeth Hall and Symphony Hall Birmingham. It has performed and broadcast in 14 European Countries and in Canada.

The orchestra has worked with many fine soloists, including Hugh Bean, Hanna Weinmeister, Maxine Kwok, Anthony Marwood (violin), Emma Johnson (clarinet), John Anderson (oboe), Philip Fowke, Lora Dimitrova (piano), Gary Ryan, Morgan Szymanski (guitar), and has also recently commissioned works by Peter Wiegold and Stephen Polydorou.

The BYCO has been awarded the Outstanding Performance Award in the National Festival of Music for Youth 6 times since 1996, and have also been top prizewinners in the International Festival of Music for Youth in Vienna in both 1992 and 2002. In November 2007 they performed in the Royal Albert Hall as part of the national Schools Prom. Many BYCO members go on to study music at University and Conservatoires, and there are presently two players that are members of the National Youth Orchestra.

The BYCO is also a very well recorded orchestra - they have broadcast on both BBC Radio and Classic FM, and have recorded eleven highly acclaimed CDs. Touring abroad is a regular and important aspect of the BYCO's programme. Last summer they gave a four concert tour of Budapest and Lake Balaton region in Hungary.  During their tour to Estonia in 2006, they appeared live on Estonian TV and performed in Parnu's internationally renowned David Oistrakh Music Festival.  In 2007 they were invited to take part in the Karinthia Summer Festival alongside top professional ensembles.

This summer the orchestra will undertake a tour of Finland, visiting Helsinki and Turku.

The BYCO will be performing locally at Bromley Parish Church on Tuesday July 5 at 1.00 p.m.

 

The Conductor of the BYCO is Jonathan Josephs.

Jonathan Josephs was brought up in a musical family and began learning the violin with his mother aged 5. He took a music degree at Durham University and then a post-graduate year at the Royal College of Music studying the violin with Hugh Bean. After playing with orchestras such as the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Northern Sinfonia, he began his teaching career at Chethams School of Music in Manchester. He then taught the violin for many years for Mid-Herts before coming to Bromley Youth Music Trust in 1989 as Assistant Head of Strings. After 12 happy years working under his good friend and colleague, Nick Woodall, Jonathan was appointed Head of String Teaching and Conductor of BYCO after Nick's untimely death in 2001.

Outside music, Jonathan loves walking in the mountains, and is a passionate supporter of all sports connected to his home town, Leicester.