The Empire State Youth Orchestra, based in Schenectady, New York, has announced its 2017-18 season, which will open on October 24 with its annual young people’s concert in the morning and free concert for senior citizens in the afternoon at Schenectady’s Proctor’s Theatre. It will be the fifteenth and final season under Music Director Helen Cha-Pyo, who in 2018 will become artistic director and New Jersey Youth Symphony conductor for the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts in New Jersey. Also planned during the season are performances of Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 on a program with a newly commissioned work, Peter Schickele’s The Simply Grand Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, with pianist Jeffrey Biegel; ESYO’s annual all-day Playathon at Crossgates Mall, with every ESYO ensemble participating; and a “birthday bash of American Composers” including Leonard Bernstein and Samuel Adler at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. In August 2018, the ESYO Wind Orchestra will embark on its first international tour, visiting Hungary to participate in the 2018 Eastern European World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles International Conference. ESYO has a total of ten performing ensembles, as well as the ESYO CHIME (Creating Harmony, Inspiring Musical Excellence) program for children and families in underserved communities.
Posted August 16, 2017
