Australian Youth Orchestra

THE country's best young musicians will be put through their paces in Canberra at the end of the week.

AYO

THE country's best young musicians will be put through their paces in Canberra at the end of the week when the Australian Youth Orchestra holds its annual music camp.

"It's pretty demanding musically," cellist and music director Howard Penny says. The National Music Camp, in its 63rd year, counts Australian composer and violist Brett Dean and principal bass for the Berlin Philharmonic Matthew McDonald among its alumni. More than 200 musicians aged 14 to 22 will take part. "Some will go on to be professional musicians and some won't," Penny says. The public is invited to hear the students - including Emmanuel Cassimatis, Callum G'Froerer and Karina Filipi, pictured - in action at eight free concerts held at the ANU school of music from January 14 to 21. Penny says a highlight will be Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's Symphony No 3, performed by the camp's chamber orchestra on January 14. "It's one of the quirkiest, maddest, weirdest things you've heard," he says. "It's a precursor to the mad world of Beethoven."