With a line-up of renowned guest conductors, a concert at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and innovative use of social media, MYO and its young performers are doing things differently next year.

“Working with great conductors and music educators such as Richard Gill has always been a dream of mine so I couldn’t turn down that opportunity within this year’s program,” says Matt Bell, leader of the viola section in the Melbourne Youth Orchestra (MYO), the winning ensemble of Limelight’s ‘Tag Your Youth Orchestra’ competition.

The 21-year-old says that getting the chance to play the music from the film Chicken Run at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in the MYO’s first 2013 concert is probably the only chance he is going to get to perform in the comedy festival – until people start to appreciate the art of telling viola jokes!

The comedy festival concert in April 2013 will see the MYO and its very own Kazoo Choir take flight as they perform selections from Chicken Run. Members of the audience will be invited to join the performance in a daring attempt to form one of the world’s largest kazoo choirs that will accompany the orchestra.

Comedy aside, the MYO was the...