Health & Fitness
First National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America Currently in Two-Week Rigorous Training at Purchase College - SUNY
Purchase, NY (July 8, 2013) -- The first National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America is about to go on tour and has been preparing to do so by taking part in a rigorous two-week training residency on the campus of Purchase College - SUNY.
During their two-week residency, which started on June 30 and runs through this Thursday, July 11, orchestra members are being housed on Purchase College’s scenic campus where they are undertaking training and rehearsals, coached and mentored by section leaders from top American orchestras. All rehearsals and training are centered at Purchase College’s Performing Arts Center (PAC) and in the rehearsal studios of the college’s School of the Arts’ Conservatory of Music.
A key partner in Carnegie's new initiative, Purchase is one of the country's only public liberal arts institutions to house an internationally celebrated School of the Arts, including its prestigious Conservatory of Music. The NYO-USA initiative marks the beginning of an ongoing partnership between Carnegie Hall and Purchase College, in which the two organizations will share resources and explore collaborations in support of their missions and advancing shared educational goals.
“This partnership between Purchase College and Carnegie Hall began about two years ago when we received a call from Carnegie Hall seeing if we had an interest in this project,” said Harry McFadden, director of the Purchase College Performing Arts Center. “Our president, Thomas J. Schwarz (a member of the Advisory Council of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute) moved this forward and a great partnership was born.” McFadden said other sites were considered, “but Carnegie Hall really liked our facilities and found the college extremely conducive to this program and its participants.”
McFadden noted that the major effort at Purchase College cuts across staff from the Performing Arts Center, the Conservatory of Music, Residential Life, and Food Service. “It is a total team effort,” he said.
Capping the students’ stay at Purchase, world-renowned conductor Valery Gergiev will lead the NYO-USA in its first public performance at Purchase's Performing Arts Center this Thursday, July 11. The performance will feature acclaimed violinist Joshua Bell and is open to the public. Tickets are currently available.
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Immediately after the Purchase concert, the orchestra heads off on its inaugural tour, starting in the nation's capital to make its debut at Washington DC's Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, July 13.
Following these performances, Maestro Gergiev, Joshua Bell, and the NYO-USA will travel overseas for two concerts in Gergiev's home country: in Moscow at The Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory on Tuesday, July 16, and in St. Petersburg at the recently-unveiled Mariinsky II Theater on Thursday, July 18.
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The orchestra's first tour culminates with a concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Sunday, July 21, as part of the BBC Proms. The NYO-USA's Proms performance will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and recorded for a later television broadcast, scheduled to air on BBC Four on July 26. WQXR will broadcast NYO-USA's BBC Proms concert on July 27 at 5:00 p.m. ET, bringing it to New York area radio audiences and online listeners worldwide at wqxr.org
The orchestra's concert program for all summer 2013 performances includes Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with Mr. Bell as soloist; Shostakovich's Symphony No, 10 in E Minor; and Magiya, a new work by American composer Sean Shepherd, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall and BBC Radio 3 specifically for NYO-USA. As part of their schedule the NYO-USA players will also have the opportunity to explore the cities in which they will be performing, as well as the chance to interact with local young musicians.
About Purchase College - SUNY
Purchase College, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) network of 64 universities and colleges, was founded in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. His aspirations for Purchase were to combine on one campus conservatory training in the visual and performing arts with programs in the liberal arts and sciences. Today, Purchase College–SUNY is a community of students, faculty, and friends where open-minded engagement with the creative process leads to a lifetime of intellectual growth and professional opportunity. For more information about the College, visit www.purchase.edu
