NJSO Youth Orchestras celebrate 25th anniversary
This season marks the 25th anniversary of the NJSO’s youth orchestra program. The NJSO Youth Orchestras have grown from a single ensemble of 29 students to a robust family of three performing ensembles and a preparatory program with nearly 160 student participants.
Over a 21-week season, the NJSO Youth Orchestras give qualified middle- and high-school students—especially African American and Latino youth in the Greater Newark area—a great musical experience. Members receive weekly coaching from professional NJSO musicians, gain performance experience in an encouraging and motivating environment, and form lifelong relationships with their mentors and peers. They also gain critical life skills including collaboration, leadership and problem solving.
The youth orchestra family presents winter and spring concerts. The program’s most advanced ensemble, the Academy Orchestra, also gives a side-by-side performance with the NJSO at NJPAC in Newark. AO students also learn and perform chamber music, and they can participate in the annual concerto competition.
NJSO Chief Operating Officer Susan Stucker was a member of the education department that started the youth orchestra program, in 1990. “The youth orchestras give students a chance to become not only better musicians, but also wonderful citizens. Both aspects are equally important,” she says. “Performing concerts and playing side by side with NJSO musicians are tremendous artistic and career development opportunities—it’s not just music, it’s life preparation.”
NJSO Education & Community Engagement Conductor Jeffrey Grogan conducts the Academy Orchestra. Henry Kao, a member of the NJSO viola section, conducts the Chamber Orchestra, and violinist Naomi Youngstein conducts the Violin Ensemble. Other NJSO musicians serve as section coaches. “The NJSO is fortunate to have such gifted musicians who are also incredible teachers and mentors,” Stucker says. “They are all inspiring, and we are all so proud of the students’ accomplishments.”
We are celebrating the NJSO Youth Orchestras’ anniversary all season long, so stay tuned throughout the season to read interviews and stories from students, alumni and educators.