New-year feelings of gloom and despondency were jettisoned thanks to the National Youth Orchestra's residency at Warwick University near Coventry.

Faced with 160 young instrumentalists, conductor Alexandre Bloch was fearful the programme of Britten, Clyne and Strauss could be too challenging.

Those 160, including the Kenilworth O'Reilly boys, would have none of it, Bloch happy to admit he was extremely proud of what had been achieved in just a few days together.

Their individual preparations had been impressive, their energy unstoppable and their enjoyment of the practice sessions a constant reminder of what fun young people have making music.

For those in the audience at Warwick Arts Centre, the feelings of melancholy and gloom were replaced; Nietzsche's 1888 proclamation that "without music, life would be a mistake" given added credence.

'Connecting with the teenagers of today' is the programme thread, notably Anna Clyne's 2016 composition, Rift, which takes the events of the 2015 Bataclan concert venue massacre in Paris as her souce of energy.

Britten's Four Sea Interludes were extracted from his opera, Peter Grimes, which describes the hounding of the misanthropic lone fisherman, Grimes.

Teenagers today face similar turmoil in their lives as they struggle with the harassment of gender identity issues, and WOKE demands.

Thanks to Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, most teenagers will connect with the opening bars of Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra, a fragment of the whole now commonly used to announce the arrival of the latest pop phenomenon!

Patrick, 18, and Andrew O'Reilly, 16 are among the 156 youngsters to have earned coveted places in the 2023 cohort (images via Warwick Arts Centre)

With such an abundance of talent amongst the 160 players, the standard orchestration for Four Sea Interludes of two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets and up to four horns was quickly disregarded Coping with eight flutes and similar numbers of oboes, clarinets and horns plus eighty or more strings is a complication Conductor Bloch was no doubt delighted to have.

By the time the Storm came, the very, very busy vast percussion section combined with the ten horns to produce an astonishing sound so seldom heard in the Midlands!

Anna Clyne's Rift takes her audience from darkness to light, from sadness to harmony.

Clyne encourages those enthusiastic players to progress to a fine flourish; never could she have imagined so many players would be consumed by her work at the same time.

It has been a long time since the Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra has been delivered with such power and energy. His work is an expansion of the tone poem model Strauss used for his Till Eulenspiegel in 1894. Inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the expanded model developed by Strauss in 1896 is a remarkable example of how audiences can be moved by music.

With such resources at his disposal, Bloch takes every opportunity to engage, involve and encourage all sections to contribute to exciting climaxes, requiring sensitive phrasing to deliver an incisive performance - Bloch's early thinking the programme would be too challenging finally, fully dispelled.

Every musical necessity for an authentic reproduction of the work is provided, including a one ton church bell, plus numerous percussion instruments, seldom, if ever, avalable to some visiting professional orchestras!

NYO at Warwick Arts Centre was another remarkable event in their annual calendar which now includes extensions to their outreach initiatives; Oldham School will be the beneficiaries of their workshops which follow yesterday's Liverpool concert.

Founder, Dame Ruth Railton would be so proud of their development.