The most talented musical students in Gloucestershire are to play a concert on Sunday, as a brand-new orchestra makes their debut performance.

The Gloucestershire Youth Chamber Orchestra has been established by Glyn Oxley, one of the leading lights in Gloucestershire’s musical scene, to help inspire the next generation of musical talent in the county. The concert takes place at 6:00pm this Sunday at Dean Close School, with tickets free of charge for anyone wanting to see the landmark concert.

Glyn’s role as Musical Director of the Gloucester Academy of Music coupled with his conducting of the Gloucestershire Symphony Orchestra means he gets to work alongside some of the most talented musicians in the country.

Glyn’s passion for nurturing the next wave of musical talent has inspired him to create a new musical ensemble who will be getting together at Dean Close School on Sunday evening for their first concert performance. Glyn said: “Everyone involved in this new orchestra is tremendously excited about Sunday. We’re working alongside the Cheltenham Music Festival which gets underway this weekend. The whole aim of the project is to bring together Gloucestershire’s most talented young musicians, working alongside international artists who are performing at the music festival and will be able to inspire the young musicians of today to work hard and achieve their potential.

“We’re part of something called ‘Make Music Gloucestershire’ which is Gloucestershire’s music education hub. The aim is to create a pathway for passionate musical students to receive the very best teaching as well as opportunities to perform together.”

Another exciting event happens next Friday when 600 school children from Gloucestershire’s primary schools perform at Cheltenham Town Hall. Glyn continued: “It’s all about a big top to bottom effort to try and encourage young children to participate and be inspired to forge a career in music.

“There’s a thriving amateur music scene here in Gloucestershire, there’s loads of amazing orchestras and so many supremely talented musicians. At the moment there’s no orchestra for this standard of student, so that was the main reason we established this new orchestra. Currently we have 16 members, next year we’ll be looking to increase that to 30-35 members.

“This opportunity to work with an international music festival here in Cheltenham is a great inspiration for the young musicians in Gloucestershire. Many of the musicians who will be performing at the Cheltenham Music Festival will be coming into schools and working with students which is going to be so inspiring for the young musicians. It’s really exciting, it’s very early days but we’re aiming big and hope to build year after year.

It’s often the case that school children gain the most inspiration from their fellow students, so to create this new orchestra will do so much to nurture the next generation of musicians. It’s great for Gloucestershire, I’m very excited for the future.”