Barbican Hall, London In a programme of early 20th- and 21st-century music, it was in the contemporary works that the new cohort of teenagers were most impressive It’s rare to hear an orchestra’s first public performance. It’s even rarer when that performance takes place barely a week after the players first met. But that’s the seemingly impossible ask for the teenagers of the National Youth Orchestra, whose annual cycle begins in earnest just after Christmas, building up to a three-city UK tour before term. It’s a bracing start to the year for anyone whose post-festive achievements have been largely sofa-based. Indeed, 2026’s Shimmer programme is less festive glow than urban heat-haze, inviting us into the sun-bleached Spanish streetscapes of Debussy and Ravel, wriggling with dances, festivals and life. Continue reading...