Elena James

Elena James writes:  Playing with the Barrier Reef Orchestra has always been an immensely pleasurable experience which has given me an enormous amount of confidence and motivation. Since joining the BRO in 2015, I have continually striven to take my violin playing to the next level and as such, I am honoured to have been awarded the BRO Encouragement Award.

In order to gain more qualifications, I used a portion of the award money to pay for my A.Mus.A violin exam which I passed in May.  Additionally, the remainder of the money went towards covering a significant proportion of the fee to enable my participation in the wonderful MOST (Musically Outstanding Students) program based in Brisbane.  The residential program involved an exhilarating ten days of music making – intensive rehearsals, tutorials with trained professionals, interviews and two spectacular concerts held at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music.  MOST was a brilliant experience and helped to hone my abilities, not only as a violinist but as an all-round musician.I am very grateful to BRO for allowing me to meet the costs of these once in a lifetime opportunities and thank the BRO community for continually supporting and encouraging me on my musical journey.