Owned and operated by the Diocese of York, Wydale Hall is a Retreat and Conference Centre situated between Pickering and Scarborough on the edge of the North York Moors, and from 2023 is the venue for our annual Spring Bank Holiday residential weekend. This is a fun and friendly music-making weekend, led by our inspiring tutors, open to late starters of any standard. Members of YLSS have priority for booking places.

 

In line with Goverment guidelines, we had to cancel our 2020 and 2021 residential weekends but were pleased to be back with a full programme for 2022 and from 2023 we'll be at a new venue, Wydale Hall.  Here's a taste of the things we done in previous years...  The weekend has a mix of playing together in a large group and smaller ensembles, as well as technique/sectional sessions. There are chamber groups for beginners and for more experienced players.  Depending on the programme for the weekend, there might be other themed activities, for example one year we had professional latin dancers come and teach us a routine or two to get us into the mood for the tangos we were playing.  There is also plenty of time to relax, explore the grounds, or whatever suits you.

Check-in is from Friday afternoon and musical activities start that evening with an hour or so of playing before and after dinner followed by relaxing drinks in the lounge.  Saturday sees us focus on technique in sectionals, work in smaller groups on the options we've choosen and rehearse together as the full orchestra.  Informal music making with friends and catching up with acquaintances old and new continues into the small hours.

Sunday follows a similar pattern before a final playthrough of the programme in the afternoon and "goodbyes" to those not staying for the Study Day on the Monday, more about that below....

On the fourth day (spring bank holiday Monday) we spend the entire day working with just one conductor looking in depth at a substantial work for string orchestra.  This is open to everyone, of any standard, who is keen to work on more challenging music. To give you an idea of the standard, in the past we've tackled works such as:

• Shostakovich String Quartet no.8
• Bach, Art of Fugue
• Bridge, Suite for Orchestra
• Mahler, Death and the Maiden
• Dvorak, Americal Quartet

You can book just for the day, with or without accommodation on Sunday night, or add it on to the weekend.

Full details for 2025 are now available on the website, and booking opens for all on January 1st, with member places being allocated from 1st Jan and non-member places from 1st Feb.   Keep an eye on the website for the booking form going live if you are interested in joining us for this very popular and fabulous weekend.