With an impressive 125-year milestone, the Newsboys Foundation will celebrate this achievement through a collaboration with Melbourne Youth Orchestras and Outer Urban Projects to present a diverse cross-cultural concert, 125BPM at the Melbourne Recital Centre on Sunday 21 October 2018.
Featuring over 60 young artists who represent an orchestra, rappers, beat boxers and gospel singers, 125BPM will also feature virtuoso didgeridoo soloist William Barton, who will be an inspiration and mentor for the Melbourne Youth Orchestras classical musicians and Outer Urban Projects contemporary artists.
An 125 year old story that celebrates the energy, vitality and diversity of an enormous cohort of young people, 125BPM is an energetic allegro tempo concert – it will be fast, quick and bright.
Directed by Melbourne Youth Orchestras Music Director, Brett Kelly, 125BPM will combine classic orchestral works from Jean
Sibelius and Gustav Holst with original composition and arrangements by William Barton, Irine Vela and Outer Urban Projects artists.
Since their humble beginnings in 1893 as a club for newsboys selling newspapers on the streets of Melbourne, the Newsboys Foundation has supported young Victorians who need assistance to realise their full potential and enable them to participate in academic pursuits, arts and culture, sport and outdoor education and develop lifestyle skills.
As a twelve year old in 1946, Bob Urquhart (now 84), started selling newspapers on the corner of Russell and Little Collins Streets and explains that the Newsboys Club changed his life. “The club was something wonderful for the thousands of kids who passed through its doors,” said Mr Urquhart.
“It helped them when they were struggling and it was a place where they could have fun, where they could learn valuable skills … It set a lot of us up for a better life than we might have had without it.”
Melbourne Youth Orchestras receives Newsboys Foundation funding to support access to specialist tutors and educators to over 25 young musicians, including 19 year old Emma Amery, concertmaster for the flagship Melbourne Youth Orchestra, who travels a 500km round trip each week from Thoona to Melbourne to attend rehearsals.
The Outer Urban Projects’ Linkage Employment Generator program utilises Newsboys Foundation funding to provide mentoring and development assistance to talented artists from Melbourne’s northern suburbs, including 21 year olds twins: Ruci and Joanne Kaisila who are gifted gospel singers that regularly perform in Outer Urban Projects’ Social Enterprise gigs and are also linked into other external performance opportunities with partner Arts Centre Melbourne.
Artists and musicians from Outer Urban Projects and Melbourne Youth Orchestras previously collaborated throughout 2010-11, including creating a new work and composition, SubUrban Exchange, written for over 70 performers.
125BPM
Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank Boulevard, Southbank
Performance: Sunday, 21 October 2018 – 5.30pm
Information and Bookings: www.melbournerecital.com.au
Image: Emma Amery (MYO), William Barton, Natasha Hanna (OUP), Kevin Nugara (OUP) and Noah Lawrence (MYO) will feature in 125BPM – photo by Meredith O’Shea