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Richmond/Delta Youth Orchestra wins national awards

Junior Strings just one of the highlights of Musicfest Canada competition
RDYO national competition
The Richmond/Delta Youth Orchestra picked up a number of national honours at a recent competition.

An outstanding performance from members of the Richmond/Delta Youth Orchestra garnered several national awards from the recent Musicfest Canada competition.

The Junior Strings received first place for the National Gold Standard, conductor Bo Peng was presented with the NAC Outstanding Music Director Award and music director Stephen Robb was presented with an award for recording editing – the second time he has been presented the honour.

“It is outstanding performances,” said Peng. “As a director and conductor, I am amazed by their [the students] concentration, devotion and endurance to make these fine productions.”

Peng said the pandemic created a host of challenges for the community youth orchestra – namely lack of rehearsal spaces, performances opportunities and funding.

“Even in the past two years we, like other youth orchestras, struggled with Zoom rehearsals, which made it extremely difficult for music making,” he said. “Fortunately we had great parents and students who were willing to sacrifice their spring break for this competition.

“We spent two Saturday’s in March to make this incredible competition video at Genesis Theatre in Ladner, which what was judged and won us the awards. It is so rewarding for the students and the parents to see all of their hard work pay off.”

The RDYO is operated by the BC Youth Music Society, a registered charity.

Since 1971, the RDYO has provided a professional orchestral preparation program for young musicians. The orchestra provides a type of musical instruction that is not commonly available for children and youth - instruction and performance opportunities in an ensemble setting. For many youth, the RDYO is a social as well as an educational opportunity, as the young musicians are able to meet other young people who share their passion for music.

The orchestra currently serves approximately 160 young musicians aged six to 25 in a levelled program from Junior Strings and Junior Winds to Symphony.

Young musicians come from a variety of communities in Metro Vancouver, including Richmond, Delta, Burnaby, Vancouver, Surrey, New Westminster, North Delta, and White Rock.

Throughout its nearly 50 years of operations, the RDYO has continued to grow and develop under the leadership of a stable board of directors and musical staff.