Six young finalists from across NSW and the ACT will perform a concerto and compete for a prize pool of $10,000.

The orchestra was in fine fettle for this anniversary concert, while legendary pianist Roger Woodward was on top of every bar in Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No 3.

The latest arts appointments and departures.

The Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra has announced the six young musicians who will compete in the final of the 38th annual concerto competition.

The birthday celebrations will feature Roger Woodward, Andrew Haveron and of course the annual NSW Secondary Schools Concerto Competition.

We caught up with the 15-year-old violinist who has won $5,000 and an engagement to perform with the orchestra in 2019.

Australian trumpet player Paul Terracini is an experienced soloist, chamber and orchestral musician, as well as a conductor and teacher. His decision to focus more on composition is borne out by the excellence of the five works for brass ensemble recorded here. The instrumentation is mostly trumpets/horns/trombones/tuba, with the two multi-movement works including timpani and percussion. The odd man out is the Exaudi Orationem Nostram for eight trumpets. Gegensätze contrasts two sections, one lively, the other reflective. In Behind the Shining Door, based on one of Terracini’s choral works, a gentle trumpet melody with accompaniment builds to a climax before sliding into repose. If the outer movements of Concerto for Brass are portraits of a bustling contemporary world, its central movement, based on the medieval chant Pange Lingua, is a serene oasis of contemplation. Its cousin Exaudi Orationem Nostram is a ‘prayer’ in which a multi-faceted motif based on ascending and descending sixths picks up the light as it rolls onwards, delighting in its own beauty. Winmalee Mourning was inspired by a bushfire that destroyed nearly 200 homes in the Blue Mountains village of Winmalee, west of Sydney, in 2013. The first movement, Inferno, paints a picture of paradise lost,…