Each week, the OUMS newsletter features an interview with someone who positively contributes to the Oxford music scene. This week, we sat down with flautist Amy Fry to ask about her work managing OUSinf, and her experiences of playing in OUO!
Amy Fry (she/her)
OUO and OUSinf Flautist and OUSinf Manager
Tell us a bit about yourself!
I'm Amy, a music student at Lincoln. It's my first year on the music course, but my second in Oxford (I spent the first year studying medicine which was definitely not one of my finer life choices...) Primarily I play the flute and piccolo in OUO and OUSinfonietta, but I have the pleasure of managing OUSinf too!
What are you working on at the moment?
Currently preparation for OUSinf's Trinity concert is in full swing! It's the first with our newly appointed conductor, Kilian Meißner, and he's chosen some pretty fab rep for us. We're playing a double symphony programme of Shostakovich 9 and Weill 2, along with Debussy's Tarantelle Styrienne. Rehearsals started last Friday (OUSinf's USP is that we rehearse and perform in the space of only a week) which is generally quite terrifying but also just the most fun. I can't wait to get started and see what we can create!
Life is pretty busy alongside this ... OUO had its concert on Saturday, and I'm also in the middle of prelims prep, so I'm treating OUSinf as a nice break(!) from everything else.
What has your favourite musical experience been at Oxford so far?
It would have to be OUO's Hilary 2022 concert – we pulled together the Rite of Spring and Scheherazade in 4 weeks. As if that wasn't hard enough, half the orchestra came down with Covid and we didn't even know if it could take place! It was also the first concert I did after making the massive decision to try to switch course to music, so it holds a pretty special place in my heart.
Can you give us a music recommendation?
My fav album to recommend is always Ben Folds Five's debut album (also called Ben Folds Five!!). It was a family classic growing up and features some of the grooviest piano playing about.
To hear Amy play this term, follow the link below:
To find out more about the OUMS newsletter and our interviews, email Christopher at secretary@oums.co.uk.