New York String Orchestra
One of the country's most acclaimed professional training programs, the New York String
Orchestra Seminar was created in 1969 by arts manager Frank Salomon for violinist and
conductor Alexander "Sasha" Schneider. Sasha inspired a generation of musicians with his
deep commitment to young artists; prior to his death, he chose Jaime Laredo to succeed him
as director. In its 43-year history, the seminar has introduced more than 2,000 exceptional
young musicians to new musical ideas, offering them the challenge of performing two
professional-level concerts presented by Carnegie Hall. There is no application fee to
apply, and all participants receive full scholarships.
Seminar alumni are found in leadership roles around the world. They include cellist
Yo-Yo Ma; violinists Cho-Liang Lin, Gil Shaham, Kyoko Takezawa, and Shlomo Mintz; members
of the Guarneri, Emerson, Orion, Johannes, Takács, and Kronos string quartets;
concertmasters and members of the Philadelphia, Cleveland, and MET orchestras, the New York
and Los Angeles philharmonics, and the Boston, Cincinnati, Chicago, and National
symphonies; conductors Peter Oundjian, Joseph Swensen, Douglas Boyd, and Marin Alsop; and
faculty members of the most distinguished conservatories and universities in the US.
The 62 New York String Orchestra members this year (ages 15-22) are from conservatories,
colleges, and high schools across the United States and Canada. Selected through highly
competitive national auditions, the students give up their winter holidays to come to New
York City for 10 days of intensive orchestral rehearsals and chamber music sessions with
master artists, including members of the Emerson, Juilliard, Orion, and Guarneri string
quartets. The 2011 faculty includes Cathy Cho, Eugene Drucker, Daniel Druckman*, Laurence
Dutton*, Bart Feller*, Pamela Frank*, Mark Gould, Bonnie Hampton, David Jolley, Ida
Kavafian, Joel Krosnick, Peter Lloyd*, Raymond Mase, Anthony McGill*, Frank Morelli, Kurt
Muroki*, Duncan Patton, Daniel Phillips*, Todd Phillips*, Samuel Rhodes, Sharon Robinson,
Sylvia Rosenberg, Laurie Smukler*, Linda Strommen*, Steven Tenenbom*, Michael Tree, Peter
Wiley*, and Hiroko Yajima (*NYSOS alumni).
The New York String Orchestra Seminar is a program of Mannes College The New School for
Music's New School Concerts Department, administration: Frank Salomon, Founding Director;
Rohana Elias-Reyes, Director; music advisors Pamela Frank, Jaime Laredo, Cho-Liang Lin,
Arnold Steinhardt, and Michael Tree; Advisory Committee members Dominick DeRiso, Mark
Epstein, Fiona Morgan Fein, Bart Feller, Theodore Harris, Elisabeth Lorin, Frank Salomon,
Linda Strommen, Jani Tree, and Helen Wright.
New School Concerts thanks the conductor, coaches, soloists, audition panelists, and
advisors for their invaluable contributions to the project, and the many others whose time,
effort, and resources make the seminar possible. Our thanks to the Cleveland Institute of
Music, The Colburn School Conservatory of Music, Manhattan School of Music, New England
Conservatory, The Shepherd School of Music, and the Wellington Hotel. We thank Michelle
Baker, Bart Feller, Valerie Feuer, Ida Kavafian, Alan R. Kay, Dean Richard Kessler, Julie
Landsman, Diane Lesser, Don Liuzzi, Mary Malin, Raymond Mase, Frank Morelli, Kurt Muroki,
Tara O'Connor, Daniel Phillips, Susan Sawyer, Michael Seabrook, Stephen Shipps, Linda
Strommen, Steven Tenenbom, Peter Wiley, David Ying, and Hiroko Yajima for their extra
efforts on behalf of the project. Additionally, we are grateful to Carnegie Hall's
administration and staff, whose efforts go into making the New York String Orchestra
Seminar a success.
Visit newschool.edu/mannes/nysos for more information.
Jaime Laredo
Performing across the globe for more than five decades, Jaime Laredo has excelled in the
multiple roles of soloist, conductor, recitalist, pedagogue, and chamber musician. Since
his stunning San Francisco Symphony debut at age 11, he has won the admiration and respect
of audiences, critics, and fellow musicians with his passionate and polished performances.
Mr. Laredo's education and development were greatly influenced by his studies and private
coachings with masters Josef Gingold, Ivan Galamian, Pablo Casals, and George Szell. At the
age of 17, he won the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium, launching his
rise to international prominence. With 2009 marking the 50th anniversary of his prize, he
was honored to sit on the jury for the competition's final round.
In demand worldwide as a conductor and a soloist, Mr. Laredo has held the position of
music director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra since 1999. As artistic director of New
York's renowned Chamber Music at the Y series, Mr. Laredo has created an important forum
for chamber music performances. Now celebrating its 35th anniversary, the
Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio-founded by Laredo, cellist Sharon Robinson, and pianist
Joseph Kalichstein-consistently thrills audiences around the globe with its inspiring
performances of traditional repertoire and the commissioning of new works.
Mr. Laredo's stewardships of the annual New York String Orchestra Seminar at Carnegie Hall
and the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis have become beloved educational
pillars of the string community. In 2009, Mr. Laredo and his wife Sharon Robinson were
named artistic directors of the Linton Chamber Music Series in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Mr. Laredo has recorded close to 100 discs; received the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis; won
a Grammy Award for a disc of Brahms's piano quartets with Emanuel Ax, Isaac Stern, and
Yo-Yo Ma; and has received seven Grammy nominations. He currently holds a prestigious chair
position at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music and has accepted a chaired position
at the Cleveland Institute of Music, beginning next fall.