Last Friday night, the Kingston Youth Orchestra (under the direction of Gordon Craig) premiered a new work by Conor Corrigan, a 17-year old member of the KYO’s trumpet section who is already two years into a career as a composer. The new work – Blue Mountains Symphony – was inspired by Corrigan’s first sighting of Southern Australia’s Blue Mountains mountain range, and (in the composer’s words) “opens very majestically and regally, presenting what could be described as a first impression of the region but, as it progresses, introduces feelings of intimacy, mysteriousness and isolation.”

Since he began composing music at the age of 15, Corrigan has written two musicals; a film score; several chamber works; several works for orchestra; and a piano sonata. Blue Mountains Symphony, the first of his orchestral works to receive performance, was, along with the piano sonata and a work for chamber ensemble, submitted for consideration to the Awards Committee of the Kingston Symphony Association Volunteer Committee. As a result, Conor is the recipient of the Harriet Scott Memorial Award for 2010. Next year, he will be studying composition at McGill University. About 60 people applied for McGill’s composition program and Conor is one of eight who were accepted. Beyond that? “I would like very much to make a career out of composing and conducting, probably for film and television.”