Orange Regional Conservatorium: Orange, AUSTRALIA

Lots of Australian regional and country areas in my current Travelfeed page due a year of doing a few of these outreach tours and regional music festivals. I know that it isn't really everyone's cup of tea... but I really enjoy the long drives on the country roads (now that the roads are mostly fixed up and not full of pot holes...) whilst the weather is decent.

The places that we go to are often really quite friendly, and the audiences are nice and very supportive. In a few years, I think that I will try to piece together something similar for my own ensemble... but for the time being, we are building a local support case first!

So, one place that we stopped into was the Orange Regional Conservatorium. I've been in the town a few times before, but not to the music school. So, this entryway was pretty interesting and quite appealing....

... but sadly, the entrance wasn't quite the same! Ah well, many music schools across the world have a similar sort of disappointing building after an impressive facade or reputation. That said, this was the artists entrance and loading dock... so, there wasn't any real need to waste niceties on the musician workers!

Once you are in, it actually lots really quite nice! Lots of space for the hordes of students that would ordinarily be occupying the space during the term times... I'm really quite impressed! It is a decent looking facility for a regional town!

... and they have a really nice performing space as well! Not a large recital hall, but one that is quite nicely intimate with under 20 metres seperating the stage from the back of the audience ranks. All the wood and the acoustic paneling makes for a decent acoustic to play in as well! Very live, and easy to hear across... well, for a chamber music sized ensemble anyway...

It is mostly flat seating (no tiering...), but there isn't really too much need to have it. The box seating is a little bit higher than the rest, so the bigger problem is for those who are at floor level at the back. For a chamber ensemble, we were standing on stage, so that wasn't a problem... but for larger groups, they are likely to choose to sit down... and that could be more tricky for those who would like to see the performers.

Still... all in all, an expectedly good room to play in! Always nice to know about and keep in mind for future tours and concerts!