Babies Proms - Adelaide Youth Sinfonia

Grainger Studio - Hindley Street

Sunday 28 October 2007

On Sunday I took my son to the city to see the Adelaide Youth Sinfonia perform in a children's concert called "Babies Proms!". It was a concert aimed at 0-5 year olds and performed at the Grainger Studio on Hindley Street.

The orchestra performed music such as 'Row Row Your Boat', 'Mission Impossible', 'Wild', 'March' from Carmen, 'Slavonic Dance No.8', 'The Music for the Royal Fireworks 4&5' and 'Night on Bald Mountain'.

I am not sure of the ages of the youth orchestra, they seemed to range any where from 10 to 18, and these guys really did a wonderful job. It was great to see that they were able to keep their composure and perform with so many toddlers running around to distract them!

The conductor 'Joanne Drimatis' allowed the children time to interact with the band and actually allowed the children and parents to wander around the orchestra while they were performing - the only rule was to look but don't touch!

The performance was hosted by 'Bronwen James', she encouraged all the children to stomp, crawl, and dance to the music, and they all followed her around copying the actions.

This performance lasted really only for about 40 minutes which was a little disappointing, because just as the kids were really getting into it, it seemed to end - I guess considering the age group it was aimed at, the kids generally loose concentration not long after. (I think for selfish reasons I would have liked an extra 15 minutes added!)

For about $10 a ticket this was a lovely experience for the whole family, it was definitely something different to do, and no child at the performance looked disappointed.

The winner for my child was that each child walked away with a helium balloon which was a big bonus as well after the show!