The Afghan Youth Orchestra at their August 7 concert at Carnegie Hall. Photo by Jennifer Taylor.
In Wednesday’s (8/28) Today Show, a segment reports on the Afghan Youth Orchestra: “When the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan three years ago, rolling back women’s rights across the country and even banning music, the Afghan Youth Orchestra was forced to move to Portugal. NBC’s Richard Engel reports for TODAY on their remarkable story and sacrifices that were recognized by Carnegie Hall with an invitation to play there.” Now based in Portugal, the Afghan Youth Orchestra recently performed as part of Carnegie Hall’s World Orchestra Week, which brought seven youth orchestras from around the globe to New York City for weeklong celebration of international youth orchestras, presented by Carnegie Hall. Featuring young musicians (ages 14–22) from the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, the Afghan Youth Orchestra plays Western and traditional Afghan instruments in repertoire that includes Western symphonic works, original compositions, and Afghan folk music. Recent tours have taken the orchestra to the UK and across Europe, including a performance that opened the 2023 UN Human Rights Conference in Switzerland.
