Squawkestra swung into action on Sunday afternoon the 25th of June. Despite the wintery weather a large audience turned out to listen to our mid-year concert. Having performed at Circus Oz before, we were familiar with the bump in and out routines and appreciated playing in such a fabulous space again.

Our orchestra has grown considerably this year and features around 40 musicians split between strings, woodwind and brass. We have enjoyed seeing some familiar faces as players return and welcomed many new players. We were joined by guest artist Michael Davis on snare drum for our final piece, Ravel’s haunting Bolero. Although a shorter version than the full 14 minutes, Carl Polke’s arrangement for Squawkestra still posed plenty of challenges, requiring much practice by everyone. We recycled a few tunes and played some new ones, including Jukka Mantynen’s composition of Yaa de Yaa de Yaa; written specially for our players to channel their inner teenager. We feel that we have taken on some challenging music this year and worked hard to play it, not just as individual musicians, but also by listening to others and the group sound.

A huge thank you to our musical director Carl Polke for providing us with many opportunities to expand our musical horizons and perform for our families and friends.