Nurturing Talent

In August 1979, when the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland presented its first series of concerts - in Falkirk, Aberdeen and Dundee - over 100 young instrumentalists took part. In 2003, the four orchestras which now comprise NYOS, totalling nearly 400 players, present 15 concerts - nine in Scotland, three in England (including a BBC London Prom), two in Germany and one in Holland. NYOS also provides training courses and special tutoring for more than 100 other young musicians. Each year, NYOS tutoring services involve over 100 of the best instrumental teachers available in Scotland, many of them members of Scotland's professional orchestras. NYOS, too, is pioneering projects in nursery and primary schools with the aim of detecting and stimulating musical promise in young children. "Nurturing Talent" traces the remarkable history of NYOS from its difficult origins in the mid-1970s, looking frankly at the problems - financial, professional and political - of developing and maintaining an organization committed to the encouragement of talent and the pursuit of excellence.