Tas Symphony Orchestra inspires the next generation of musicians

The Launceston Grammar students spent much of September playing alongside Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra's principal cello, Jonathan Békés, in Hobart, at their school in Mowbray and in their hometown of Flinders Island.

Inspired to pick up their instruments - the cello and the violin - after watching a live-streamed TSO performance, the 13- and 14-year-old sisters were ecstatic to now be playing with one of their musical role models.

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"The TSO inspired me and I really, really want to be on the chair with them someday," Heidi, who plays cello, said.

"This feels like a step on the way towards that."

Heidi and Davia returned home on Saturday, September 16, alongside Békés where they played a suite in the foyer ahead of his special recital, which included a free string instrument workshop.

Earlier in September, the students travelled to TSO's headquarters in Hobart for a tour from Békés, while later in the month the girls returned the favour at Launceston Grammar School where they performed a small instrumental duet together.

Békés - who grew up in Campbelltown outside of Sydney - said playing alongside aspiring musicians meant the world to him having come from a place where those things just weren't possible.

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"How the girls started is how I started; I heard someone playing," he said.

"To come to the other end of my career now - the sort of pointy end - it's amazing to be able to give back, to not just perform but actually do the most important thing, which is inspire.

"It's a really special thing to have the key and unlock new worlds for people."

Travelling to Flinders Island, Békés was also sure to bring esteemed music to a place which would not often have the opportunity to hear it, which included pieces like Bach's Cello Suites and more modern, contemporary classical, like from the French composer Henri Dutilleux.

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"I don't think anyone on the island will have heard anything like it before," he said.

"There's a lot of talent out there and I think it's really important that we feed that hunger for art; humanity needs these things."

The trip is also part of the TSO's upcoming five-concert musical odyssey across northern Tasmania between September 22 and 23 for Junction Arts Festival and in venues at Longford and Scottsdale.

Tickets for Jonathan Békés' Flinders Island Recital, Live Sessions in Launceston, Woolmers Estate near Longford and the Mechanics' Institute Hall in Scottsdale can be purchased on the TSO website.

Flinders Island residents can register for the free string workshop by emailing waldockk@tso.com.au

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