Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall today announced that it will partner with the New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy (NWS), for the summer 2018 season of NYO2, an intensive orchestral program for outstanding American instrumentalists ages 14–17 that aims to bring greater diversity to the field of classical orchestral music, with a particular focus on attracting talented students from communities underserved by and underrepresented in the field. As part of this program, NYO2 musicians will work closely with New World Symphony Fellows and alumni as well as other professional players from top US orchestras over two weeks of intensive training at Purchase College, State University of New York, leading up to a six-day residency in Miami Beach, including a performance at the New World Center led by conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto. The NYO2 musicians will then return to New York for a culminating performance at Carnegie Hall in July 2018. NYO2 will be joined onstage by Fellows and alumni of the New World Symphony for both concerts.

NYO2’s performance at the New World Center will be made available to the community for free via a WALLCAST® concert, with the full concert viewable outdoors in SoundScape Park on the soaring, 7,000-square-foot projection wall of the building. The event will also be streamed live on Facebook for viewers around the globe. In addition to their Miami Beach performance, the NYO2 members will have the opportunity 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.

“We are thrilled to build on the success of NYO2’s launch in 2016 and the ensemble’s Carnegie Hall debut last season by working this summer with the New World Symphony, an organization dedicated to artist training and education at the highest level,” said Clive Gillinson, Carnegie Hall’s Executive and Artistic Director. “The opportunity to work with NWS Fellows and conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto will be inspiring for these students, giving them a chance to learn from innovative and talented young artists who are redefining what it means to be a professional musician in the twenty-first century.”

"I am so pleased with the opportunity for the talented musicians of NYO2 to work with our Fellows and NWS alumni at the New World Center, a collaboration that coincides with my conducting the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA) on tour in Asia this summer," said Michael Tilson Thomas, Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the New World Symphony. "Initiatives like NYO-USA and NYO2 are invaluable for helping to ensure the artistic excellence of the next generation of orchestral musicians. This is a goal we share at the New World Symphony as we prepare our Fellows to be leaders in the world of music. Welcome NYO2!”

“Mentorship is fundamental to the passing of classical music traditions,” said Howard Herring, President and CEO of the New World Symphony. “New World Symphony Fellows and alumni will welcome their NYO2 colleagues for a week of rehearsal and performance. The technologically advanced New World Center is an ideal location for this training and for giving the musicians of NYO2 access to cutting edge digital distribution of their culminating performances. This will be a thrilling collaboration, one that will honor the past and shape the future of classical music.”

How Students Can Apply
The NYO2 program is free for all participants. Talented instrumentalists from all 50 states who are US citizens or permanent residents, and who are ages 14–17 during the period of the 2018 summer program, are eligible to apply. A formal nomination from a teacher, ensemble director, school/band/orchestra administrator, or community leader is required as part of the application. Nominators will be asked to put forth students with outstanding artistic potential who have not had access to highly selective ensemble training opportunities via youth orchestra programs, summer festivals or camps, or similar experiences outside their own communities. Nominations must be received by Carnegie Hall by December 1, and students must submit all application materials, including audition video, by December 15. For more information, including audition requirements, please visit carnegiehall.org/NYO2/ApplicationInformation.

About the Artists
The New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy, prepares graduates of music programs for leadership roles in professional orchestras and ensembles. In the 30 years since its co-founding by Artistic Director Michael Tilson Thomas and Lin and Ted Arison, NWS has helped launch the careers of more than 1000 alumni worldwide. A laboratory for the way music is taught, presented and experienced, the New World Symphony consists of 87 young musicians who are granted fellowships lasting up to three years. The fellowship program offers in-depth exposure to traditional and modern repertoire, professional development training and personalized experiences working with leading guest conductors, soloists and visiting faculty. Relationships with these artists are extended through NWS’ extensive distance learning via the internet. NWS Fellows take advantage of the innovative performance facilities and state-of-the art practice and ensemble rooms of the Frank Gehry-designed New World Center, the campus of the New World Symphony. In the hopes of joining NWS, more than 1,500 recent music school and conservatory graduates compete for about 35 available fellowships each year. The Fellows are selected for this highly competitive, prestigious opportunity based on their musical achievement and promise, as well as their passion for the future of classical music.

To learn more about the New World Symphony, visit nws.edu.

An exciting and insightful communicator renowned for his charismatic presence on the conductor’s podium and his versatile command of various composers and styles, Carlos Miguel Prieto is considered one of the most dynamic young conductors on the classical stage today. Music director of the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico and the Orquesta Sinfonica de Mineria in his native Mexico, and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in the United States, Maestro Prieto was named music director of the Youth Orchestra of the Americas (YOA) in November 2011. In high demand as a guest conductor, among Maestro Prieto’s numerous North American guest conducting credits are the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Seattle, Dallas, Toronto, Houston, Indianapolis, Colorado, Vancouver and San Antonio, and the philharmonic orchestras of Florida, New Mexico, Dayton and Calgary, and every major orchestra in Mexico. He has conducted orchestras throughout Europe, Russia, Israel and Latin America. Recent debuts abroad include the New Japan Philharmonic in Japan, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra in Germany, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, and the Netherlands Radio Orchestra in Utrecht.

Created by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute in summer 2016, NYO2 brings together outstanding young musicians ages 14–17 from a wide variety of backgrounds all across the country. Running in conjunction with NYO-USA’s annual summer residency at Purchase College, State University of New York, NYO2 offers an opportunity for talented instrumentalists to play alongside highly motivated peers and learn from a world-class faculty. In addition to orchestral rehearsals, the faculty leads private lessons, master classes, chamber music readings, and other seminars on essential music skills. NYO2 participants also have side-by-side opportunities with members of NYO-USA, and access to workshops designed to cultivate arts leadership skills and enable participants to serve their communities through music. Following two weeks of intensive training, the ensemble performs at Carnegie Hall and elsewhere. In order to recruit musicians that would most benefit from this unique opportunity, Carnegie Hall solicits recommendations from local teachers, ensemble directors, and community leaders nationwide. Through its active recruitment efforts, the program aims to expand the pool of young musicians across the country equipped with the tools to succeed at the highest level, particularly those who will bring greater diversity to classical orchestral music and/or those who have not had access to highly selective training opportunities through major youth orchestra programs, summer festivals and camps, or similar experiences outside of their local community.

To learn more about NYO2, visit carnegiehall.org/nyo2.

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Lead Donors: Hope and Robert F. Smith; Beatrice Santo Domingo

Leadership support for NYO2 is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Founder Patron: Beatrice Santo Domingo

With additional funding provided by: Ernst & Young LLP

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What past participants have said about NYO2:

“It was definitely the biggest musical experience of my life. Going back to Chicago, I hope that I can inspire my friends at my music school and in my orchestra to enjoy music in the same way that I do now.” – Steven Baloue, Viola (Chicago, IL)

“My fellow musicians helped me out so much… just so much with confidence in moving forward into a career in music, which I've always doubted myself succeeding in, being from a small town in North Dakota.” – Kari Jenks, Oboe (Minot, ND)

“I was able to surround myself with not only talented musicians but very great people. I’m from Hawaii and had never met anybody as passionate about music as me. When I came to NYO2, I instantly connected with many people.” – Yudai Leonzon, Violin (Ewa Beach, HI)

“NYO2 was definitely a life-changing experience—I’ve never done anything like this before. I’ve never been away from home for two weeks with other musicians who love doing the same thing that I do.” – Andrea Velasquez, Flute (Kingwood, TX)

“I didn’t only learn from the faculty, but I learned from my peers as well—about their hometowns, how they grew up learning music, how they deal with nerves, how they came to love music, their different approach to sight reading to performance to anything else related to music. It has changed me—I now go into more situations with an open heart.” – Rahel Lulseged, Cello (Richardson, TX)

“NYO2 has taught me what the classical world is really like—it’s accepting, it’s growing, and it’s filled with amazing people.” – Ella Bondar, Cello (Chicago, IL) 

Photo of Carlos Miguel Prieto © Benjamin Ealovega. WALLCAST® photo courtesy of New World Symphony.