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The National Youth Orchestra performs Anna Clyne’s DANCE, with cello soloist and NYO alumnus Danushka Edirisinghe, and conductor Constança Simas.
DANCE was performed as part of the Orchestra’s Shimmer tour in January 2026. 800 school students experienced the power of a teenage orchestra live in a free Schools’ Concert in Birmingham, featuring DANCE and other music from the Shimmer tour, as well as music from the musical, Wicked.
For many students, this was their first time hearing an orchestra live. Bringing music to state school students is central to NYO’s mission to share the power of orchestral music with every teenager across the UK.
Anna Clyne wrote DANCE in 2019 for cellist Inbal Segev who gave the premiere of the work at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in California. The work is in five movements, each inspired by a line from verse by Rumi:
’Dance, when you’re broken open. Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance, when you’re perfectly free.’
The National Youth Orchestra returns to Birmingham as part of its summer tour, Transcend, on 5 August, before performing at Snape Maltings Concert Hall on 6 August, and the BBC Proms on 8 August. Free tickets are available for teenagers in Birmingham and Snape Maltings https://www.nyo.org.uk/performances
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