America's Finest Teen Instrumentalists Come Together For NYO-USA, NYO2, And NYO Jazz

This July, Carnegie Hall will bring together more than 200 of the finest teen musicians from across the country to perform as part of its three acclaimed national youth ensembles: the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA), NYO2, and NYO Jazz. All three ensembles will take part in an intensive training residency at Purchase College, SUNY before performing at Carnegie Hall and embarking on tours across the country and around the world, serving as America's dynamic musical ambassadors. In total, 222 musicians will take part in this year's program, representing 39 US states plus Puerto Rico.

Since launching NYO-USA in 2013, Carnegie Hall has built on the program's success by introducing two additional ensembles-NYO2, a sister orchestra for younger musicians, in 2016, and NYO Jazz, which returns this summer after a celebrated inaugural year. Each of these highly-selective programs-free to all participants-is dedicated to the proposition that talented young musicians thrive when they have the opportunity to expand their musical, social, and cultural horizons and share their artistry with audiences around the globe.

"We are thrilled to bring the musicians of NYO-USA, NYO2, and NYO Jazz together again for another extraordinary summer of music-making," said Clive Gillinson, Carnegie Hall's Executive and Artistic Director. "These three ensembles shine a spotlight on the great depth of musical talent found all across the country. Our musicians are superb players who are passionate about music and dedicated to connecting with people across cultures. We are inspired by their music-making and, when they travel the world, we couldn't ask for better ambassadors for our country."

Throughout their training residency at SUNY Purchase, NYO-USA and NYO2 musicians will work with leading players from America's top professional orchestras, and NYO Jazz players will work with a stellar faculty comprised of some of the finest jazz artists on the scene today as they prepare for their annual Carnegie Hall performances and tours.

New music has always been a key component of the national youth ensembles. This summer, two new works written by NYO-USA's 2019 apprentice composers Benjamin S. Beckman and Tyson J. Davis will be performed in the US and across Europe. The young composers will work with celebrated American composer Sean Shepherd, who was commissioned to write a new work, Magiya, for NYO-USA's inaugural season in 2013, and serves as the composition program director and mentor/coach to the apprentices. NYO2's concert program will include Gabriela Montero's Piano Concerto No. 1, "Latin," featuring the composer herself as soloist, while NYO Jazz will play a diverse program including new works by Ayn Inserto (commissioned by Carnegie Hall) and Jihye Lee and new arrangements by Igmar Thomas and Wycliffe Gordon, as they share this uniquely American music with international audiences. Additional repertoire highlights this summer include NYO-USA performing Strauss' Eine Alpensinfonie and Berlioz's Les nuits d'été, and NYO2 performing a program to include Stravinsky's Pétrouchka.

On July 10, NYO2 musicians will arrive at Purchase College, joined on July 13 by their peers in NYO-USA and NYO Jazz. In addition to full ensemble rehearsals, the young musicians will take part in sectional rehearsals, master classes, private lessons, chamber music and combos, and other seminars on essential music skills.

During the residency, there will be opportunities for side-by-side rehearsals, mentorship, and exchange activities among the three ensembles, giving classical and jazz instrumentalists the chance to collaborate and learn from each other. On Saturday, July 20, all 200+ musicians will come together to rehearse a new arrangement of Miguel Zenón's "Run with Jones"-which was premiered as part of last summer's inaugural season of NYO Jazz-for orchestra and big band. The young musicians will also play excerpts from Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite Nos. 1 and 2 and the jazz versions created by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, and break out into smaller groups to improvise over a new blues tune written by NYO Jazz Artistic Director Sean Jones.

Upcoming Summer 2019 Performances

All three ensembles take the Carnegie Hall stage in the span of eight days, starting with NYO Jazz led by trumpeter Sean Jones and featuring vocalist Kurt Elling on Saturday, July 27 at 8:00 p.m., followed by NYO2 with Carlos Miguel Prieto and pianist Gabriela Montero on Tuesday, July 30 at 7:30 p.m., and concluding with NYO-USA conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano and featuring mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard on Saturday, August 3 at 8:00 p.m. NYO-USA will also perform at Tanglewood Music Festival in Lenox, Massachusetts on Thursday, August 1.

Following NYO-USA's Carnegie Hall performance, the orchestra travels to Europe, making its debut in Berlin with mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly, followed by debuts in Edinburgh and Hamburg as well as return performances at the BBC Proms and Concertgebouw with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. NYO Jazz will tour Asia for the first time, joined by vocalist Kurt Elling, with debut performances at the Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying), Beijing's National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai, the Shanghai Oriental Art Center, Zhuhai Huafa & CPAA Grand Theatre, and Asia Society Hong Kong Center. And NYO2 returns to Miami Beach, Florida through a continued partnership with the New World Symphony, America's Orchestral Academy (NWS) for a weeklong residency, including a performance at the New World Center with pianist Gabriela Montero. As part of their travel schedule, all three ensembles have the exciting opportunity to tour the cities in which they will be performing and engage with local musicians.

Click here for a video showing highlights of NYO-USA, NYO2, and NYO Jazz from summer 2018.

See below for more information about each ensemble's residency and tour:

National Youth Orchestra of the USA-Summer 2019 Details

This summer's NYO-USA is comprised of 119 members-ages 16-19 and hailing from 33 US states-who have been recognized by Carnegie Hall as being among the finest players in the country, following a comprehensive national audition process. This summer's roster will feature 32 musicians from previous seasons as well as 22 musicians who gained experience through NYO2. Click here for a full list of musicians, including hometowns.

In preparation for its array of performance activities in the New York area and abroad, NYO-USA will once again work with an impressive list of principal players from many of the nation's top professional orchestras during its training residency. James Ross, music director of the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, returns to lead the NYO-USA faculty for a seventh consecutive year. Click here for a complete list of NYO-USA guest artists and faculty. Click here for a complete list of NYO-USA guest artists and faculty.

Following a return to the Tanglewood Music Festival in Lenox, Massachusetts on Thursday, August 1 at 8:00 p.m.-the Boston Globe called their first performance "sharp, stylish, and alert" during the orchestra's coast-to-coast US tour in summer 2014-Sir Antonio Pappano and NYO-USA take center stage at Carnegie Hall for the orchestra's annual concert in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage on Saturday, August 3 at 8:00 p.m. The program will include Strauss' Eine Alpensinfonie, and Berlioz's Les nuits d'été featuring renowned mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard.

The orchestra then departs to Europe for debut performances as part of the Young Euro Classic series at Konzerthaus Berlin (August 6) with mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly, as well as the Edinburgh International Festival (August 9) and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg (August 14), and a return to the BBC Proms (August 11) and Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam (August 13) with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. Select concerts will feature Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 in place of Strauss's Eine Alpensinfonie, giving the young musicians the opportunity to perform two ambitious symphonies.

The NYO-USA concerts will also include new works written for the orchestra by apprentice composers Benjamin S. Beckman from Los Angeles, California and Tyson J. Davis from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Beckman's piece, Occidentalis, will be premiered at Tanglewood on August 1, and will also be performed as part of a live BBC Proms broadcast in London (August 11) and at the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam (August 13). Davis's piece, Delicate Tension, commemorates the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and will receive its premiere at Konzerthaus Berlin on August 6. The work will also be performed at the Edinburgh International Festival (August 9) and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg as part of a live medici.tv webcast (August 14).

NYO2-Summer 2019 Details

The 80 members of NYO2 2019-ages 14-17 and coming from 30 US states plus Puerto Rico-have been recognized as exceptionally talented musicians who not only embody a very high level of artistry, but who also come from a wide range of backgrounds, representing a bright future for American orchestral music. Twenty musicians will be returning to NYO2 from past seasons, and 22 prior members of NYO2 have been accepted for NYO-USA this summer. Click here for the full list of NYO2 musicians, including hometowns.

Joseph Young, the newly-appointed Music Director of the Berkeley Symphony, returns as NYO2's resident conductor, and the students will also have the opportunity to work with James Ross and leading players from professional orchestras across the country. Click here for a full list of NYO2 guest artists and faculty.

For the second time, the musicians of NYO2 will travel to Miami Beach for a weeklong residency made possible through a continued partnership with the New World Symphony, America's Orchestral Academy (NWS). As part of their training, NYO2 players will work with NWS Fellows leading up to a performance at the New World Center led by conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto on Saturday, July 27 at 8:30 p.m. The program includes Stravinsky's Pétrouchka, selections from Falla's The Three-Cornered Hat, and Gabriela Montero's Piano Concerto No. 1, "Latin," featuring the composer as soloist.

The New World Center concert will be made available to the community for free via WALLCAST, with the full performance viewable outdoors in SoundScape Park on the 7,000-square-foot projection wall of the building. During their time in Miami, the NYO2 members will also have opportunities to interact with local young musicians in the South Florida area through NWS community partner organizations, playing and learning side-by-side with one another.

Following their Miami residency, the NYO2 musicians return to New York for a culminating performance at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday, July 30 at 7:30 p.m.

NYO Jazz-Summer 2019 Details

NYO Jazz returns in 2019 for its second year, following a triumphant inaugural year during which the ensemble played to sold-out houses and received rave reviews. The 23 members of NYO Jazz 2019-ages 16-19 and representing 15 US states-have been recognized by Carnegie Hall as being among the finest jazz players in the country following a comprehensive and highly selective audition process. Click here for the full list of NYO Jazz musicians, including hometowns.

Led by Artistic Director Sean Jones, NYO Jazz players will have the opportunity to work with some of America's top jazz artists as part of in-depth training workshops and master classes, including drummer Obed Calvaire, trumpeter Etienne Charles, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, bassist Mimi Jones, saxophonist Erica Von Kleist, drummer Quincy Phillips, pianist Shamie Royston, guitarist Matthew Stevens, ensemble coach Reggie Thomas, and guitarist Dan Wilson. Click here for a full list of NYO Jazz faculty.

NYO Jazz performs at Carnegie Hall on Saturday, July 27 at 8:00 p.m., led by Jones and featuring Grammy Award-winning vocalist Kurt Elling for a program to include new works by Ayn Inserto (commissioned by Carnegie Hall) and Jihye Lee, new arrangements by Igmar Thomas and Wycliffe Gordon, as well as standards by Dizzy Gillespie, Don Ellis, Thad Jones, and Mary Lou Williams.

Following their New York appearance, NYO Jazz will embark on its first-ever tour to Asia, with performances at the Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying), Beijing's National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai, the Shanghai Oriental Art Center, the Zhuhai Huafa & CPAA Grand Theatre, and Asia Society Hong Kong Center.

Carnegie Hall PERFORMANCE LISTINGS:

Saturday, July 27 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
NYO JAZZ
Sean Jones, Artistic Director, Bandleader, and Trumpet

with Special Guest
Kurt Elling, Vocalist

Program to include works by Dizzy Gillespie, Don Ellis, Thad Jones, and Mary Lou Williams, a new work by Ayn Inserto commissioned by Carnegie Hall, a new composition by Jihye Lee, and new arrangements by Igmar Thomas and Wycliffe Gordon.

Tickets: $25
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Tuesday, July 30 at 7:30 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
NYO2
CARLOS MIGUEL PRIETO, Conductor
GABRIELA MONTERO, Piano

with
Fellows of the New World Symphony, America's Orchestral Academy

Manuel De Falla Selections from The Three-Cornered Hat
GABRIELA MONTERO Piano Concerto No. 1, "Latin"
Igor Stravinsky Pétrouchka (1947 version)

Tickets: $25
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Saturday, August 3 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
NYO JAZZ
SIR ANTONIO PAPPANO, Conductor
Isabel Leonard, Mezzo-Soprano

Hector Berlioz Les nuits d'été, Op. 7
Richard Strauss Eine Alpensinfonie, Op. 64

Tickets: $25