Created by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute in summer 2016, NYO2 brings together outstanding young American instrumentalists ages 14–17 for a summer orchestral training program that includes a residency and an exciting concert at Carnegie Hall. Running in conjunction with the summer residency of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA) at Purchase College, State University of New York, NYO2 offers an opportunity for younger participants to play alongside exceptionally talented peers and learn from a world-class faculty. With a focus on actively recruiting talented young players from across the country, the program aims to expand the pool of young musicians equipped with the tools to succeed at the highest level, particularly those who come from communities that have been underserved by and underrepresented in the classical music field.

NYO2 has been celebrated for “technical mastery, musicianship, and panache to rival anyone” (New York Classical Review) in its performances. Over the past six years, NYO2 has performed in concert with The Philadelphia Orchestra and has been in residence with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, in addition to annual performances at Carnegie Hall. Stellar conductors and soloists from around the globe have collaborated with the ensemble, including Mei-Ann Chen, Aaron Diehl, Giancarlo Guerrero, Gabriela Montero, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Gil Shaham, and Esperanza Spalding. The orchestra has also taken part in digital video projects, including the world-premiere performance of Molly Joyce’s Side by Side.

NYO2 is one of Carnegie Hall’s three acclaimed national youth ensembles, which also include NYO-USA for outstanding classical musicians ages 16–19, celebrating its 10th anniversary season this summer; and NYO Jazz for the nation’s finest jazz instrumentalists ages 16–19. Each of these prestigious national programs—free to all participants—is dedicated to the proposition that talented young musicians thrive when given the opportunity to expand their musical, social, and cultural horizons and share their artistry with audiences around the globe. Over the last decade, more than a thousand young musicians have performed in the Hall’s three national youth ensembles, creating a unique musical community, spotlighting musical excellence from across the US, and transforming countless lives.

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

American conductor Joseph Young balances a vibrant guest conducting career with leadership roles as music director of the Berkeley Symphony and artistic director of ensembles for the Peabody Institute. His commitment to amplifying voices, both historic and contemporary, has resulted in electrifying programs that feature works by Juan Pablo Contreras, Brian Raphael Nabors, Florence Price, and Carlos Simon, alongside established greats like John Adams, Brahms, Dvořák, and Prokofiev.

Mr. Young’s 2022–2023 season features major debuts with orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl; the Washington National Opera and National Symphony Orchestra, both at the Kennedy Center; and NYO2 at Carnegie Hall and in residence in the Dominican Republic.

Recent conducting engagements include his San Francisco Symphony debut, the inaugural concert of the Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra in Johannesburg, and the world premiere of William Menefield and Sheila Williams’s Fierce with the Cincinnati Opera. He has appeared with the Seattle Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, Spoleto Festival Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música in Portugal, and RTVE Symphony Orchestra in Spain, among others in the US and Europe.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Young served as assistant conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, and resident conductor of The Phoenix Symphony. He also served as a League of American Orchestras conducting fellow with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Young holds an artist diploma from the Peabody Institute, where he studied with Gustav Meier and Markand Thakar. His mentors include Jorma Panula, Robert Spano, and Marin Alsop, with whom he maintains an artistic partnership. Now a mentor himself, he shapes the future of classical music through his dynamic engagements with major symphony orchestras, his steadfast commitment to teaching in classrooms and concert halls, and his service on the board of New Music USA.

Grammy Award–winning violinist Jennifer Koh is recognized for her intense, commanding performances, delivered with dazzling virtuosity and technical assurance. A forward-thinking artist, she is dedicated to exploring a broad and eclectic repertoire while promoting equity and inclusivity in classical music. She has expanded the contemporary violin repertoire through a wide range of commissioning projects and has premiered more than 100 works written especially for her.

This season, Ms. Koh performs works from her series Alone Together, a commissioning project, performance, and recording series in support of composers during the coronavirus crisis; Bach and Beyond, which traces the history of the solo violin repertoire from J. S. Bach’s sonatas and partitas to pieces by 20th- and 21st-century composers; and The New American Concerto, which invites a diverse collective of composers to examine socio-cultural topics relevant to American life today through the form of the violin concerto. As part of this last series, she performs Missy Mazzoli’s violin concerto Procession with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and The Phoenix Symphony. Ms. Koh has appeared with orchestras worldwide, including the Atlanta, Baltimore, BBC, Chicago, Cincinnati, National, NHK, RAI National, and Singapore symphony orchestras; the Cleveland, Mariinsky, Minnesota, and London’s Philharmonia orchestras; the New York and Los Angeles philharmonics; the New World Symphony; and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.

Named Musical America’s 2016 Instrumentalist of the Year, Ms. Koh has won the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Concert Artists Guild Competition, and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. She has a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Oberlin College and studied at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she worked extensively with Jaime Laredo and Felix Galimir. She is also an active lecturer, teacher, and recording artist for Cedille Records; the newly named artistic director of the Kennedy Center’s Fortas Chamber Music Concerts; and artistic director and founder of the nonprofit ARCO Collaborative.