In Thursday’s (7/11) New York Times, James R. Oestreich writes, “Many countries have excellent national youth orchestras. The most famous in recent years, the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, graduated to become the full-fledged, internationally known Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra. The United States never had one consisting only of youths until last week. But here onstage at the Performing Arts Center of Purchase College on Monday afternoon was the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America, sprung to life in less than a week. Consisting of 120 musicians, ages 16 to 19, representing 42 states, it is the latest venture of the Weill Music Institute, the educational arm of Carnegie Hall. Eagerly awaiting the imminent arrival of their first conductor, the celebrated Russian maestro Valery Gergiev, the young players were rehearsing for their Thursday debut concert here (Carnegie Hall being closed this summer for construction). They ran through the entire program of works by Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Sean Shepherd with remarkable aplomb, conducted by James Ross, the director of the orchestra and charged with its initial training. … After Thursday’s debut, the orchestra travels to Washington for a performance on Saturday at the Kennedy Center, and on to Russia and London.”
Photo: Valery Gergiev leads the National Youth Orchestra of the USA on Tuesday. Credit: Chris Lee.
Posted July 11, 2013
