One of the country’s most acclaimed professional training programs, the New York String Orchestra Seminar and its alumni have had a major impact on the music world in the United States and abroad. The program was created in 1969 by arts manager Frank Salomon for violinist and conductor Alexander “Sasha” Schneider, who chose Jaime Laredo to succeed him as director. In its 48-year history, the seminar has introduced more than 2,200 exceptional young musicians from across the nation to new musical ideas and offered them the challenge of performing two professional-level concerts presented by Carnegie Hall. All students receive full scholarships to participate. For more detailed information on the program and its commitment to offering a full scholarship to each participating student, visit newschool.edu/mannes/nysos. If you would like to know more about what the program means to our students and what the future brings them, send an email to nsc@newschool.edu to receive periodic updates.

Seminar alumnus Yo-Yo Ma (1977) shared, “[The seminar was] one of the defining moments for me as a teenager,” as it was for so many of today’s musical leaders: soloists such as violinists Cho-Liang Lin, Gil Shaham, Kyoko Takezawa, and Shlomo Mintz; conductors who include Peter Oundjian, Joseph Swensen, Douglas Boyd, and Marin Alsop; concertmasters of more than 40 orchestras (including the Chicago, Boston, Cleveland, and Philadelphia orchestras, the Los Angeles and Czech philharmonics, and Berliner Philharmoniker); members of such ensembles as the Emerson, Guarneri, Kronos, Orion, and Takács string quartets and Brooklyn Rider; and faculty at leading music schools and conservatories. They call the seminar a “life-changing musical experience” that opened new musical worlds for them. Each new generation of New York String Orchestra Seminar alumni continues to make a vital contribution to music and illuminate lives around the country.

This year, the 64 New York String Orchestra members (ages 16–23) are from conservatories, colleges, and high schools across the US, Canada, China, and Korea. Selected through highly competitive national auditions, students give up their winter holidays to come to New York City for 10 days of intensive orchestra rehearsals with Mr. Laredo and chamber music sessions with master artists, including members of the Emerson, Juilliard, Orion, and Guarneri string quartets.

The New York String Orchestra Seminar is a program of The New School’s Mannes School of Music (Richard Kessler, Dean)—New School Concerts Department. 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, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Colburn School, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, and the Wellington Hotel. We also thank Michelle Baker, Bart Feller, Valerie Feuer, Ida Kavafian, Dean Richard Kessler, Diane Lesser, Don Liuzzi, Mary Malin, Raymond Mase, Anthony McGill, Frank Morelli, Kurt Muroki, Sharon Robinson, Susan Sawyer, Michael Seabrook, Stephen Shipps, Linda Strommen, and Hiroko Yajima for their extra efforts on behalf of the project. Additionally, we are grateful to Carnegie Hall’s administration and staff, and the many others whose efforts go into making the New York String Orchestra Seminar a success. Visit newschool.edu/mannes/nysos for more information.

For more than six 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 the age of 11, he has won the admiration and respect of audiences, critics, and fellow musicians with his passionate and polished performances. At the age of 17, he won the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium, launching his rise to international prominence.

During the 2017–2018 season, Mr. Laredo tours the US as a conductor, soloist, and member of the award-winning Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, which continues its 40th-anniversary celebration. He also reprises André Previn’s Double Concerto for Violin and Cello with his wife, cellist Sharon Robinson, in Vermont this season. Performances of the concerto have received raves since its 2016 premiere. It was commissioned specifically for the duo by the Cincinnati, Kansas City, Austin, Detroit, Pacific, and Toronto symphony orchestras, as well as the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Swedish Chamber Orchestra. The duo will next collaborate on a new double concerto by Chris Brubeck.

Mr. Laredo has recorded nearly 100 discs, including a Grammy Award–winning disc of Brahms piano quartets with Emanuel Ax, Isaac Stern, and Yo-Yo Ma. His recordings include the complete Bach sonatas with Glenn Gould (Sony Classical); premiere recordings of double concertos with violinist Jennifer Koh (Two x Four on Cedille Records) and cellist Sharon Robinson (Triple Doubles on Bridge Records); and many award-winning recordings with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio.

Mr. Laredo’s stewardships of the annual New York String Orchestra Seminar at Carnegie Hall (which he has conducted for 24 years) and the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis have become beloved educational pillars of the musical community. This is also the sixth year of Mr. Laredo’s tenure at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He concurrently holds director positions with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and Linton Chamber Music Series in Cincinnati, and is the principal conductor of the Westchester Philharmonic. He was also artistic director of the Chamber Music at 92Y series in New York for 40 years. Born in Bolivia, Mr. Laredo resides in Guilford, Vermont, and Cleveland, Ohio.

Richard Goode has been hailed for music making of tremendous emotional power, depth, and expressiveness, and has been acknowledged worldwide as one of today’s leading interpreters of Classical and Romantic music. Through his frequent performances with major orchestras, recitals in the world’s music capitals, and extensive and acclaimed recordings with Nonesuch Records, he has won a large and devoted following.

Mr. Goode opened his 2017–2018 season at Spain’s Pablo Casals Museum and Switzerland’s Verbier Festival. He appears with orchestras that include The Cleveland Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, and BBC Philharmonic. A revered recitalist, Mr. Goode performs in Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series, as well as in Philadelphia, Berkeley, La Jolla, and Madison. He also performs in London and other European capitals this season.

An exclusive Nonesuch artist, Mr. Goode has made nearly 30 recordings of solo and chamber works, lieder, and concertos. Celebrating 25 years since its release, his complete Beethoven sonata cycle—the first-ever by an American-born pianist—was nominated for a Grammy Award and is ranked among the most distinguished recordings in the repertoire. His recording of the five Beethoven concertos with the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer was also released to critical acclaim. Additional recording highlights include a series of Bach partitas, duos with Dawn Upshaw, and Mozart piano concertos with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

A New York native, Mr. Goode studied with Elvira Szigeti and Claude Frank, as well as with Nadia Reisenberg at the Mannes School of Music and Rudolf Serkin at the Curtis Institute of Music. His accolades include the Young Concert Artists Award, the Avery Fisher Prize, First Prize in the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition, and a Grammy Award for his recording of the Brahms sonatas with clarinetist Richard Stoltzman. Mr. Goode served as the co–artistic director of the Marlboro Music School and Festival with Mitsuko Uchida from 1999 to 2013. He is married to violinist Marcia Weinfeld, and when the duo is not on tour, they live in New York City with their collection of some 5,000 volumes.