The first international Late Starter Orchestra Network forum is being held in St. Agnes’ Community Centre for Music and the Arts, (CCMA), Crumlin, Dublin in February 2020. It will be attended by representatives of up to 17 different Late Starter Orchestras from across the globe. The forum will give those members and opportunity to share their experiences and ideas with others.
We at St. Agnes’ CCMA think of a Late Starter Orchestra as an orchestra where adults of any age may start to learn and to play within an ensemble, who did not have this opportunity, for whatever reason, during their school years.
The old belief was that if you didn’t start when you were young, it would be too late. Now the thinking is that it is NEVER too late. We have had and continue to have beginners in their 70s. A Late Starter Orchestra may include ‘Returners‘, people who did learn in school, dropped it for decades, and are now rediscovering the excitement of performing with an orchestra. It may include ‘Switchers’, sometimes those who have learned piano but never learned an orchestral instrument OR change instrument.
Late Starter Orchestra Network 