John Roxburgh (left) and Kathy Thompson, both of Dunedin,
and Jordan Renaud (17), of Christchurch, get to grips with
Tchaikovsky at the Waitaki Summer Music Camp. Photo by
Andrew Ashton.
Over the past 17 years the annual Waitaki Summer Music
Camp has built up a reputation as a ''definite'' must-do for
budding classical musicians, and although this year it has
again attracted scores of keen musicians from around New
Zealand, only four musicians from Oamaru turned up.
Organiser Paul Claman said the week-long orchestral camp,
based at Waitaki Boys' High School, was attended by 50
musicians.
Musicians from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and
Southern Sinfonia were among the instructors at this year's
camp, and although the camp was seen as a ''definite place to
be'' for many people serious about classical music, there had
been a poor uptake from Oamaru.
''There are Aucklanders here and all the way down to
Invercargill and every place in between. There are people
from just about everywhere, but we don't often get a lot of
Oamaru people, if only because doing it in Oamaru means
coming back to your own school in the summer holidays.''
The quality of instruction available and the high-spec
facilities at the high school auditorium were big draws for
those musicians who attended the camp, he said.
''There are very few school auditoriums as good as this
anywhere.''
Camp members would gain a range of tips to improve their
playing skills, before performing in small groups in a gold
coin donation concert at the Oamaru Opera House on Friday at
1.30pm, before the final full orchestra concert at the high
school auditorium at 7.30pm on Saturday, he said.
The highlight of the final concert will be Tchaikovsky's
Symphony No 6.
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