Carnegie Hall Announces Musicians Selected for the 2017 National Youth Orchestra

CARNEGIE HALL ANNOUNCES THE MUSICIANS SELECTED FOR THE
2017 NATIONAL YOUTH ORCHESTRA OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Created by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, Prestigious National Program Recognizes Finest Young Musicians from Across the Country, Ages 16-19

This Summer, Musicians of NYO-USA Will Study and Perform With Renowned Conductor Marin Alsop, Including Concerts in New York and Debut Performances in Mexico, Ecuador, and Colombia As Part of Orchestra’s First-Ever Latin American Tour

Program Includes Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine, and the World Premiere of a New Carnegie Hall–Commissioned Work by Gabriela Lena Frank

Carnegie Hall today announced the names of the 116 outstanding young musicians selected from across the country for the fifth annual National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA). The members of the 2017 orchestra—ages 16-19, hailing from 33 US states—have been recognized by Carnegie Hall as being among the finest players in the country following a comprehensive and highly competitive audition process. This summer’s NYO-USA will feature 28 returning musicians and 10 musicians who participated last season in NYO2, a program for younger players ages 14-17, with a particular focus on attracting talented students from communities underserved by and underrepresented in the classical orchestral field. NYO-USA and NYO2 are both free for all participants, ensuring that all young musicians have the opportunity to take part.

See below or click here for the names, instruments, and hometowns of the members of the 2017 National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America.

In 2017, the orchestra will make its Latin American debut with conductor Marin Alsop with a program that features the world premiere of a new Carnegie Hall–commissioned work by Gabriela Lena Frank. The orchestra’s program also includes John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. NYO-USA’s tour kicks off with a performance and recording of the classical music public radio show NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley at the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College, State University of New York (July 19). The orchestra then takes the Carnegie Hall stage for its annual concert (July 21), to be heard by music lovers worldwide via the Carnegie Hall Live broadcast and digital series, created in partnership with WQXR and distributed nationally by WFMT Radio Network, and streamed live online for free by medici.tv. Tickets for the Carnegie Hall performance are on sale now at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street, by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, or at carnegiehall.org.

Following their New York appearances, the NYO-USA musicians will fly to Latin America for a tour of some of the region’s music capitals, including visits to Mexico, Ecuador, and Colombia. During a multi-day residency in Bogotá, NYO-USA will perform its own concert at the Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo and spend several days rehearsing with students from the Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil Metropolitana Batuta Bogotá to prepare a joint concert. Similar residency activities are being planned in Mexico, including joint music-making with local young musicians. NYO-USA players will also have the chance to tour each city and experience the richness of Latin American culture.

“We are thrilled to launch the National Youth Orchestra of the USA’s inaugural tour to Latin America with these young artists serving as remarkable musical ambassadors for the US,” said Clive Gillinson, Carnegie Hall’s Executive and Artistic Director. “The musicians who make up NYO-USA’s 2017 roster are truly among the very best in our country, and we look forward to embarking on another wonderful summer of music-making.”

NYO-USA musicians will arrive in New York in July 2017 to begin an intensive three-week training residency on the campus of Purchase College, SUNY, working with principal players from some of the country’s finest professional orchestras. James Ross, director of orchestral activities at the University of Maryland and music director designate of the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès in Spain, returns to lead the NYO-USA faculty for a fifth year. The faculty will oversee rehearsals during the orchestra’s residency in Purchase and will also lead master classes, chamber music readings, and other seminars on essential music skills, all leading up to the launch of NYO-USA’s annual tour.

For the second time, two young musicians have been selected as apprentice composers for NYO-USA. During the Purchase residency, they will have the opportunity to workshop their music with members of the orchestra. Celebrated American composer Sean Shepherd (whose work Magiya was commissioned by Carnegie Hall for the inaugural NYO-USA in 2013) will serve as mentor and teacher for the young composers, and they will also have the opportunity to meet and work with this year’s featured composer, Gabriela Lena Frank. The apprentice composers join an apprentice orchestra manager, apprentice librarian, and two apprentice conductors as touring members of the 2017 NYO-USA.

About the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America
Each summer, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute brings together the finest young musicians from across the country (ages 16-19) to form the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA). Following a comprehensive audition process and a three-week training residency at Purchase College, State University of New York, with faculty made up of principal players from top professional orchestras, these remarkable teenagers embark on a tour to some of the great music capitals of the world, serving as America’s dynamic music ambassadors.

Launched in summer 2013 to great acclaim, the first-ever National Youth Orchestra of the USA presented concerts with conductor Valery Gergiev and violinist Joshua Bell to enthusiastic audiences at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC; St. Petersburg and Moscow in Russia; and at the BBC Proms in London. The 2014 orchestra, led by American conductor David Robertson with violinist Gil Shaham as soloist, made its debut at Carnegie Hall in New York City, followed by a coast-to-coast US tour to Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts; Boone, North Carolina; Chicago, Illinois; Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Sonoma County, California; and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California. In 2015, NYO-USA, with conductor Charles Dutoit and pianist YUNDI, made its debut in China, performing at some of the country’s greatest concert halls in many regions of the country, including concerts in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Xi’an, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong. Last season, the orchestra performed at Carnegie Hall with conductor Christoph Eschenbach and pianist Emanuel Ax before embarking on a European tour that took them to Amsterdam, Montpellier, Copenhagen, and Prague, led by conductor Valery Gergiev and with pianist Denis Matsuev.

In 2018, NYO-USA will return to Asia for a tour with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet.