NJSO Youth Orchestras to perform at Carnegie Hall | Mar 6

Sun, Mar 6, at Carnegie Hall in New York

• 2015–16 is NJSO Youth Orchestras’ 25th anniversary season
• Academy Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra to participate in WorldStrides Heritage Performance’s Elite Performance Series

NEWARK, NJ (February 24, 2016)—Two ensembles of the NJSO Youth Orchestras will perform at Carnegie Hall in New York on Sunday, March 6, at 8:30 pm as part of the WorldStrides Heritage Performance’s Elite Performance Series. The event features the Academy Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra in their Carnegie Hall debuts. The NJSO’s family of student ensembles celebrates its 25th anniversary during the 2015–16 season.

The Academy Orchestra, under the baton of NJSO Youth Orchestras Artistic Director Jeffrey Grogan, will perform the first and fourth movements of Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.” Chamber Orchestra conductor Henry Kao, an NJSO violist, leads the chamber orchestra in three movements from Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings. The Carnegie Hall concert also features the National Youth Choir.

Grogan says: “This will be this NJSO Youth Orchestras’ first performance at Carnegie Hall, and it marks a great moment in our 25-year history. I’m so proud of these young musicians and their progress each and every year. I know one of the most inspiring parts of this event will be seeing the looks on their faces the first time they walk through those stage doors. Leonard Bernstein’s quote about this historic venue sums it all up: ‘Your heart swells up in your throat when you walk onto that stage—the grandness, the awe!’”

The concert program has Carnegie Hall connections. When Carnegie Hall opened in 1891, Tchaikovsky was on the podium for the hall’s first concert; Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony premiered at Carnegie two years later.

This season marks the 25th anniversary of the NJSO’s youth orchestra program, which has grown from a single ensemble of 29 students to a robust family of three performing ensembles and a preparatory program with nearly 180 student participants.

To continue the 25th-anniversary celebration, the NJSO will host a Youth Orchestras Spotlight concert on Saturday, May 14, at 12 pm at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. For the first time, more than 300 musicians representing New Jersey’s premier youth ensembles—the Lakeland Youth Symphony, NJPAC Symphonic Band, NJSO Training Ensemble, NJSO Youth Orchestras and New Jersey Youth Symphony—will come together for a special performance.

 

TICKETS

Tickets for the NJSO Youth Orchestras’ March 6 performance at Carnegie Hall start at $40 and are available for purchase at www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2016/3/6/0830/PM/National-Youth-Choir-NJSO-Academy-and-Chamber-Orchestras.

 

WORLDSTRIDES HERITAGE PERFORMANCE

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, WorldStrides Heritage Performance programs strive to promote excellence among choirs, bands and orchestras by providing the best opportunity for learning through seeing, experiencing and interacting with other student performers and top music professionals. Committed to offering the ultimate music festival experience with adjudicated, national performance opportunities, WorldStrides Heritage Performance has worked to be “Your Partner in Music Education” for more than 35 years. Additional information is available at www.WorldStridesHeritagePerformance.org.

 

NJSO YOUTH ORCHESTRAS

Part of the NJSO Academy

The NJSO Youth Orchestras give qualified middle- and high-school students—especially African-American and Latino youth in the Greater Newark area—unparalleled opportunities to achieve personal and musical excellence. Weekly coaching by NJSO musicians and a supportive peer-to-peer environment provide quality learning and performing experiences and build a unique culture of collaboration. The achievements of this program and its impact on the lives of these young musicians have received national recognition from the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

Three distinct ensembles—the Academy Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra and Violin Ensemble—perform two full concerts each year. The Academy Orchestra also annually performs a side-by-side concert with the NJSO at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark and community chamber music concerts. In addition, the new Training Ensemble offers small group lessons and ensemble experiences, laying the foundation for students’ membership in one of the program’s three performing ensembles. The youth orchestras annually serve students from 11counties across northern and central New Jersey.

Students who play orchestral instruments can apply for membership in the NJSO Youth Orchestras. For more information on the youth orchestras and auditions, visit www.njsymphony.org/youthorchestras.

 

NJSO ACADEMY

Through the education programs that comprise the NJSO Academy, the NJSO provides intensive coaching and instruction for musicians of all ages. The lauded NJSO Youth Orchestras, El Sistema-modeled NJSO CHAMPS (Character, Achievement and Music Project), NJSO Edward T. Cone Composition Institute, NJSO Coach-in-Residence Program and customized in-school clinics and master classes create participatory learning environments across the state that foster meaningful connections with live music.

 

NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Named “a vital, artistically significant musical organization” by The Wall Street Journal, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra embodies that vitality through its statewide presence and critically acclaimed performances, education partnerships and unparalleled access to music and the Orchestra’s superb musicians.

Under the bold leadership of Music Director Jacques Lacombe, the NJSO presents classical, pops and family programs, as well as outdoor summer concerts and special events. Embracing its legacy as a statewide orchestra, the NJSO is the resident orchestra of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark and regularly performs at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, Richardson Auditorium in Princeton, Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown and bergenPAC in Englewood. Partnerships with New Jersey arts organizations, universities and civic organizations remain a key element of the Orchestra’s statewide identity.

In addition to its lauded artistic programming, the NJSO presents a suite of education and community engagement programs that promote meaningful, lifelong engagement with live music. Programs include school-time Concerts for Young People performances and multiple offerings—including the NJSO Youth Orchestras family of student ensembles and El Sistema-inspired NJSO CHAMPS (Character, Achievement and Music Project)—that provide and promote instrumental instruction as part of the NJSO Academy. The NJSO’s REACH (Resources for Education and Community Harmony) chamber music program annually brings original programs—designed and performed by NJSO musicians—to a variety of settings, reaching as many as 17,000 people in nearly all of New Jersey’s 21 counties.

For more information about the NJSO, visit www.njsymphony.org or email information@njsymphony.org. Tickets are available for purchase by phone 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476) or on the Orchestra’s website.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s programs are made possible in part by The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, along with many other foundations, corporations and individual donors.

 

PRESS CONTACT

National & NYC Press Representative:
Dan Dutcher, Dan Dutcher Public Relations | 917.566.8413 | dan@dandutcherpr.com

Regional Press Representative:
Victoria McCabe, NJSO Communications and External Affairs | 973.735.1715 | vmccabe@njsymphony.org

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