China moves to form national youth orchestra

Chinese pianist Wang Yujia will be among the renowned artists to join the students of NYO China for a concert at the Carnegie Hall in the US on July 22, 2017. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The first national youth orchestra was founded in the United Kingdom in 1948. And the NYO of the United States started in 2013, as a project of Carnegie Hall.

Now China will have its own NYO: 100 young musicians from all over the country will take rehearsals and attend master classes and workshops at West Connecticut State University in the US for two weeks, and finally play a formal concert at the Carnegie Hall on July 22, 2017.

Renowned artists including French conductor Ludovic Morlot and Chinese pianist Wang Yujia will work with the students for the concert.

Online auditions for NYO China started on Dec 17.

As part of the process, music students from China－ages 14-20 for the wind section and 14-19 for the other instruments－can make applications, by submitting their resumes, recommendation letters and video clippings of themselves playing to the official website Nyochina.org.

The videos will be sent to professional musicians from both China and the US. They will first be judged by conductor Morlot and NYO China's artistic director Cai Jindong.

All the judges will also submit feedback to the students.

"Even if you are not confident about getting in, having a professional musician give you feedback is a great encouragement," says Robert Blocker, the Henry and Lucy Moses dean of music at Yale University, who is a senior adviser to NYO China.

NYO China is not just about performances, says Morlot, the conductor. "It is a deeper journey that will create lifelong relationships. An initiative like this can inspire a whole generation of young people."