NYYS Summer 2016 Newsletter

Summer 2016

NEWSLETTER
What a difference a year makes! 2016/17 Season Preview
ORCHESTRA
One year ago the NYYS orchestra had just returned from an amazing tour to Argentina
where the energy of the audiences just blew us all away. If anyone had told us that Season Opening Concert
this was just the beginning of what was to come in the 2015/16 season, we would
not have believed them! From performing in Central Park with the NY Public Theater Nov 20, 2016, 2 PM at Carnegie Hall
to appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! with Misty Copeland, from a hugely successful Simone Porter, violin
jazz tour to Brazil, to performing at Microsoft, and with over 200 people onstage for
Mahler’s Second Symphony, this year has been incredible! Viet CUONG: Neon (world premiere)
The New York Youth Symphony is extremely proud to provide the next generation of BRAHMS: Symphony No. 3
musical citizens with outstanding learning and performance opportunities. For 53 years
the NYYS has been a major part of the cultural fabric of this great city and state. Our BRUCH: Violin Concerto No. 1
students are tremendous in so many ways and while their years of dedication to their RAVEL: La Valse
instruments are evident at our performances, they do so much more as leaders in their
communities. The schools our graduating seniors will be attending this fall, including The McCrindle Concert
MIT, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Northwestern, Juilliard, Oberlin, and more, attest to how
impressive they are. Mar 5, 2016, 2 PM at Carnegie Hall
As we reminisce on the season just ended and look toward the fall, the NYYS is grateful Orli Shaham, piano
to all of its students, families, alumni, trustees, and supporters for making all that
we do possible. The fiscal year end for the NYYS is August 31 so there is still time to Ethan BRAUN: Essential Residual
help us achieve our financial goals for the season. Your donation supports our 240+ (world premiere)
students’ participation in NYYS’s tuition-free programs in orchestra, chamber music,
jazz, composition, and conducting. BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 4
Thank you for your consideration. Have a wonderful summer! SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 2
Sincerely,
Shauna Quill, Executive Director The Spring Concert

May 29, 2016, 2 PM at Carnegie Hall
Brook Speltz, cello

Daniel SILLIMAN: Holy Roman
Emperor (world premiere)

SHOSTAKOVICH: Cello Concerto No. 1
PROKOFIEV: Symphony No. 5

JAZZ

A Tribute to the Village Vanguard

Dec 13, 2016, 7:30 & 9:30 PM
Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola
Jazz at Lincoln Center
Jim McNEELY, piano

Michael THOMAS: Blossoming from
Darkness (world premiere)

The Great Trumpeters

Mar 13, 2017, 7:30 & 9:30 PM
Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola
Jazz at Lincoln Center
Sean JONES, trumpet

Andy CLAUSEN: The Golden Years
(world premiere)

Pastels of Ballads and Blues

May 7, 2017, 7:30 PM
The Appel Room

Jazz at Lincoln Center
Victor GOINES, saxophone
Remy LE BOEUF: Sibbian

(world premiere)

CHAMBER MUSIC

Festival Evening

April 21, 2017, 7:30 PM
Tenri Cultural Institue

An Evening of Chamber Music

April 26, 2017, 8 PM
National Arts Club

An Evening Among Friends

May 2, 2017, 7:30 PM
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall

COMPOSITION

Composition Date 2017

May 10, 2017, 7:30 PM
Leonard Nimoy Thalia

Symphony Space

Building an Ensemble

Youth symphonies love to play monumental works by major classical composers and the NYYS is no exception, having
recently performed repertoire by Beethoven, Strauss, Rachmaninoff, and of course, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. But,
getting to those masterpieces takes time, perseverance, and a lot of practicing! Each season the NYYS welcomes both
returning and new students to the ensemble. Building the orchestra throughout the season takes tremendous leadership
from our music director, Joshua Gersen, along with outstanding musicians from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and
New York Philharmonic who provide guidance and instruction to each section of the NYYS during each of the three
performance cycles. Along the way the students bond and create lifelong friendships. And when the last note sounds on
Mahler 2 or Beethoven 9 or Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, the students know intrinsically that they are part of something
bigger than just themselves.

The Art of Chamber Music

Studying and performing chamber music is an art in itself. Each member of the ensemble must take on many roles –
from leader to accompanist, and from soloist to support. The musical conversation changes often and musicians must
learn to adapt. The 80 students who participate annually in the NYYS Chamber Music Program take the art form to a
new level and a new generation. Over the course of the 2015/16 season NYYS students participated in master classes
with members of the Orion and Shanghai string quartets, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and more. They
performed in venues from the National Arts Center and Weill Recital Hall, to children’s hospitals and community centers.
As we look to the 35th anniversary of the CMP next season, we celebrate the 2,000 alumni who found their love of
chamber music as students in the NYYS.

Since 2013 the New York Youth Symphony has partnered with the Harmony Program and Youth Orchestra of St. Luke’s,
both El Sistema-inspired programs providing high quality musical instruction to underserved communities. Throughout
the season NYYS students visit, perform, and interact with Harmony and YOSL students. These partnerships include
side-by-side rehearsals, internships at the Youth Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and Harmony and YOSL families attending NYYS
performances. Sponsored by the Ford Foundation, the partnerships broaden the impact of the NYYS by expanding its
reach into under-served communities, creating a pipeline for further diversification of its ensembles, and providing NYYS
musicians with mentoring and leadership training.

Lindo Maravilhoso Brazil!

The 14th season of the NYYS Jazz included its first-ever international tour. During spring break, director Matt
Holman toured the band to São Paulo, Brazil where they performed at the Auditorio Ibirapuera and Bourbon
St. Music Club, participated in a cultural exchange with Brazilian students at the Escola de Musica do Estado de
São Paulo, and took a side trip to the beautiful town of Guarujá. Matt Holman’s final season as director of the
NYYS Jazz will certainly go down in NYYS history as the most memorable thus far! Good luck to Matt, his wife
Rachel, and their daughter Lila!

Composition & Conducting Highlights

Attacca Quartet, Margaret Brouwer, Cliff Colnot, Decoda, David Fulmer, Congratulations to the
Georg Frederic Haas, John Harbison, Bridget Kibbey, David Leisner, Lowell graduating students!
Liebermann, and Julia Wolfe, are all major artists and composers, and, for the Best of luck at your future
lucky NYYS composition students, were selected as guest artists and lecturers schools, including:
during the NYYS’s 2015/16 season. Under the direction of Dr. Kyle Blaha and
Tim Mauthe, the 16 composition students received personalized guidance and • Boston College
teaching on a range of compositional topics, including new music in Britain, • Carnegie Mellon University
music for Pierrot Ensemble, the Third Stream, and Spectralism. Multiple • Columbia University
performances of their works at the Microsoft Flagship store brought new • Eastman School of Music
audiences to their works. The final performance of the season at Symphony • Harvard University
Space included 16 world premieres, performed by NYYS students from the • Johns Hopkins University/
orchestra, chamber music, jazz, and conducting programs.
Peabody Institute of Music
Congratulations to the 2015/16 Director’s Awards winners: • The Juilliard School
• Manhattan School of Music
Elizabeth Jones, violin (chamber) • Massachusetts Institute of
Matt Malanowski, piano (jazz)
Claudia Ng, clarinet, (chamber) Technology (MIT)
Noah Street, cello, (chamber) • McGill University
Emma Toh, piano (chamber) • New England Conservatory
Sam Torres, composition
of Music
• Northwestern University
• Oberlin College
• Princeton University
• Royal College of Music,

London
• UC Berkeley
• University of Michigan
• Vanderbilt University
• Yale University

Student Spotlight

Nick Politi, composer, cello

Composition: 52,53; Chamber: 51

The Composition program has been one of the highlights of the last few years of my
life. I can say without fail that being a part of this program has intrigued me on both
musical and intellectual levels. Being an active part of discussion in our weekly sessions
has served to make me a more well-rounded musician. Since I am the type of person
that values a balance of “brain” and “heart” in his music, this program truly helped me
grow into the composer I am today. I also saw my opportunities and recognition, such as
receiving honors from MATA and YoungArts, greatly increase after joining the program.
Composition, at its core, is a solitary endeavor - all composers are conscious of that.
What is tremendous about this organization is that it is able to bring together people
who are constantly engaged in an individualistic practice and let them inspire each other.
That is possible due to the leadership of Kyle Blaha and Tim Mauthe, two wonderful
people who have become my educators, mentors and above all, friends.
This fall I’ll be heading off to Oberlin College and Conservatory as a double degree student in composition and liberal arts, which means I must bid
farewell to the extraordinary collective of composers in the composition program. I am proud to call myself an alumnus and know that the tools
that NYYS has given me will be beneficial to my future in music.

Liam Fenlon, cello

Orchestra: 51,52,53

I’ll never forget my first New York Youth Symphony rehearsal. Fifteen years old, I had
never played with any group that was nearly as talented. I had auditioned based off of
the suggestions of a few friends in the orchestra but had no real idea what to expect as
I took my seat, the last in the cello section. The opening horn calls of the Der Rosenka-
valier suite sounded, and I suddenly felt like I was sitting in the middle of the New York
Philharmonic!
Since that 2013-2014 season, I’ve grown immensely as an orchestral player thanks to the
New York Youth Symphony. Joshua Gersen (JD) has taught me what it means to listen
and lock in to all of the sounds around me, to play as part of an ensemble, not as an
individual. I’ve been truly privileged to work with and learn from JD, whose indelible
musical lessons will always be felt by all of us in the orchestra. The orchestra has also
exposed me to some of the greatest orchestral repertory. Performing Beethoven 9 with
full chorus at Carnegie Hall was unforgettable! I will also always remember Benjamin Beilman’s fiery Barber Concerto and Conrad Tao’s electrifying
performance of Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
I also participated in the Chamber Music Program last year. My group, the Gunther Quartet, studied Schubert’s Death and the Maiden. The CMP
gave us valuable opportunities to play in masterclasses for Ani Kavafian and Roger Tapping, and perform at Symphony Space.
While I’m not pursuing music as a career, I certainly intend to keep on playing in college! I’ll be attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
next fall, where I hope to study computer science and data analytics. MIT has a wide variety of student musical groups, and Boston offers many
more musical opportunities, too. I’ll miss playing in the New York Youth Symphony - three seasons are not nearly enough - but I look forward to
hearing my friends in concert for many years to come! Music Is Why I Live!

Coreisa Lee, flute

Orchestra: 53

Growing up in a family entirely made up of musicians, I began taking flute lessons in
the 4th grade at The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame - a community center in Downtown
Birmingham, Alabama that offered free music classes. From 4th to 8th grades, I became
a huge band nerd and learned I wanted to spend the rest of my life playing the flute. In
the 9th grade I began school at the Alabama School of Fine Arts - an amazing art school
in Alabama - under the tutelage of Kim Scott. Being able to do this just secured the
idea that I wanted to pursue music as a career. Now a third year performance major at
Manhattan School of Music studying with Linda Chesis, I am so grateful that I have the
opportunity to really pursue my dream.
These past three years in New York City have been wonderful, and I owe a huge part
to the New York Youth Symphony. Being able to perform alongside a selected group
of talented musicians is an honor. Having the chance to perform great works such as
Debussy’s “Mother Goose Suite”, Rachmaninov’s “Symphonic dances”, Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake - on Jimmy Kimmel Live! - and for our last concert in
May, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Joshua Gersen is beyond a blessing. I can truly say this past year I’ve grown so much musically and have made
lots of musician friends on my New York Youth Symphony journey, and I will forever be grateful for such a wonderful opportunity.

Student Spotlight

Ejin Hur, violin

Orchestra: 51,52,53

I can proudly say that one of the best decisions of my life was joining the New York Youth
Symphony. In three seasons I have become a part of a family, a diverse group including
some of the best musicians I have ever met. NYYS has instilled in me orchestral etiquettes,
leadership and responsibilities, and ways to open my ears. It has also provided me with
exposure to the greatest orchestral pieces, the privilege of performing in Carnegie Hall
three times a year, the remarkable opportunity of a musical tour to Argentina, and some
of the best friendships and connections that would never have been possible without
this amazing program. This orchestra has not only improved me as a player, but has also
transformed me as a person, teaching me patience, respectfulness, and endurance. I can
say with confidence that NYYS is one of the greatest gifts and pleasures of my life.
This year I was appointed Principal of the 2nd violin section, which meant that I had to
be present at every rehearsal and concert, and write practice assignments for my section
after each rehearsal. Now that I am a leader in the orchestra, the extra responsibilities have added a new level of excitement about the music that I
have never before experienced. Also, under the extraordinary leadership and musicianship of our conductor Joshua Gersen, my love for music has
been amplified ineffably over the past three years. I have gained so many precious things from this orchestra to carry on for life, and I would never
change the past three year time and memories for anything. I cannot thank NYYS and all affiliated members enough for this amazing, unforgettable
experience!

Tim Rachbach, drums

Jazz: 52,53

Being a member of the New York Youth Symphony Jazz Band for the past two years has
been a valuable experience in many ways. With the amount of time I have spent with
the band, I have been able to develop more personal bonds with the other musicians
which makes the music more meaningful and deep. Working with Matt Holman has
also been an honor since he is an expert at managing a band and coordinating all of
the music and guest artists that visit the band each year. The guest artists that we have
gotten to play with have been fantastic and it was a blast getting to learn some of their
music and play with some incredibly successful artists.
In addition to all of the fantastic venues we have played in New York City, we also had the
opportunity to travel to Brazil which was an amazing experience culturally and musically.
Individualistically, being a drummer in the band has been a great experience to learn
how to adapt my voice and playstyle to the various composers, eras, and styles of the
music. After I finish my time at Manhattan School of Music, I would like to pursue my
dream of being a performing and composing musician in either New York, Berlin, or Los Angeles. I am interested in many different genres of music
and wish to create with artists, not just jazz musicians.

Elizabeth Egan, composer, bassoon, contrabassoon

Orchestra: 52,53; Chamber: 52; Composition: 52,53

Being a part of the New York Youth Symphony has helped me grow tremendously as a
bassoonist, contrabassoonist, composer, and musician.
Last year as a part of the chamber music program, I pushed myself and felt myself grow
tremendously as a chamber musician. Although playing at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital
Hall was certainly an incredible experience, the most life changing experience I had with
the program was playing an outreach concert at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital.
Performing that concert with my woodwind quintet helped me learn about the impact
music has and truly changed my life.
The orchestra is very special to me. I have attended NYYS orchestra concerts in the past
and always wanted to be a part of this group, so now being in the orchestra is a dream
come true! Performing at Carnegie Hall and working with Maestro Gersen is amazing. I’ve been fortunate to perform some of the greatest pieces of
music - from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony to Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite - on one of the world’s greatest stages. The orchestra has helped me grow
as both a bassoonist and contrabassoonist as well, and I am very fortunate to be held to high standards on both instruments.
My favorite part of NYYS is the composition program. Without a doubt, I would not be where I am today as a composer without NYYS Composition,
Kyle Blaha, and Tim Mauthe. This program is the highlight of my week. Between working with Dr. Blaha and Tim, the other talented students in the
program, talking about music, and hearing from guest artists, I have grown so much as a composer. NYYS composition has really helped me come
out of my shell and become more passionate and confident as a composer. I know I would not have as many opportunities as a composer or have
started private lessons with my teacher, Dr. Sosa at Juilliard Pre-College, without the encouragement I received in this program.
I am truly grateful to have had all the opportunities I have had through NYYS. I look forward to growing more with NYYS as I continue through high
school and I am excited to see where else music takes me!

110 W. 40th St., Suite 1503, New York, NY 10018
(212) 581-5933 • nyys.org

New York Youth Symphony Judith M. Linden About the NYYS
Board of Trustees Patrick J. McGinnis
Ruth E. Pachman The New York Youth Symphony is one of the
Leslie J. Garfield, Chair Ian C. Schaefer most awarded youth programs of its kind in the
A. Slade Mills, Jr., Vice-Chair Steven D. Shaiman nation, recognized for its innovative, tuition-
Robert L. Poster, Vice-Chair Carolyn Strashun free educational programs for talented young
Melissa B. Eisenstat, President Christine van Itallie musicians. Founded in 1963 as an orchestra to
Robert J. Levine, Vice-President Rima Vargas-Vetter showcase the metropolitan area’s most gifted
Suzanne K. Ponsot, Vice-President Marica F. Vilcek musicians ages 12-22, its activities have since
Jed H. Garfield, Treasurer Andrew Watson grown to encompass programs in chamber
Susan S. Rai, Secretary Anna Weber music, conducting, composition, and jazz, with
Cecile Antier Music Director performances at world class venues including
Jacob Bousso Joshua Gersen Carnegie Hall and Jazz at Lincoln Center. Through
Benson J. Chapman Director, Chamber Music its commissioning program, First Music, the NYYS
Rhea Graffman Cohen Lisa Tipton has commissioned over 140 works from young
Michael R. DiYanni Director, Composition composers since 1984.
Barbara E. Field Kyle Blaha
Elliott Forrest Director, Jazz Learn more about us at nyys.org
Jo Garfield Andy Clausen
Barry Goldberg Executive Director Photo credits: Chris Lee, Marc Schreiner, Shauna Quill and Ching Chen Juhl
Executive Director Emeritus Shauna Quill
Julian A. Jadow
William A. Kapell
David P. Levin

The programs of the New York Youth Symphony are made possible by the support of: New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.