Highly Recommended Music: WORLD ORCHESTRA WEEK [WOW!] (Carnegie Hall)

HOT CLASSICAL AUGUST NIGHTS AT CARNEGIE HALL
WITH YOUNG MUSICIANS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Sick of hearing nothing but bad news about our world? Wanna be inspired? Well, there is good news out there in the world, and it’s coming to Carnegie Hall when hundreds of teen instrumentalists from around the globe come together in New York City this summer for World Orchestra Week (WOW!), a historic celebration of international youth orchestras, presented by Carnegie Hall from August 1–7, 2024. Inspired by the Hall’s three critically acclaimed national youth ensembles, this ambitious international initiative will bring five youth orchestras from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America to New York for high-level music making with some of today’s most internationally-renowned artists plus cultural exchange activities among the orchestras over the course of one week. Links to tickets (starting at $15.50) next to each concert.

Here are the WOW! festival concerts:
(all seven can be heard worldwide online at Carnegie Hall Live
and streamed online on WQXR 105.9 FM in New York)

Teddy Abrams by O’Neil Arnold Photography

World Orchestra Week kicks off on Thursday, August 1 at 7:00 p.m. with a performance by NYO2—Carnegie Hall’s national youth orchestra featuring outstanding younger musicians from across the US, ages 14–17—led by Teddy Abrams, Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra. The evening’s program includes Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, and Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite (1919 version), plus the world premiere of a new wind concertante (co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall) by Jasmine Barnes, featuring principal players from leading US orchestras including flutist Demarre McGill, oboist Titus Underwood, clarinetist Anthony McGill, and bassoonist Andrew Brady.

Gustavo Dudamel by Danny Clinch

The next day, Friday, August 2 at 7:00 p.m., Gustavo Dudamel leads the National Children’s Symphony of Venezuela in a program to include John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine along with Latin American classics Mediodía en el llano (Midday on the Plains) by Estévez, and Ginastera’s Four Dances from Estancia, which the orchestra performed in its unforgettable international debut at the Salzburg Festival. The second half of the concert is anchored by Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. The orchestra is comprised of talented young musicians, ages 10–17, who take part in Venezuela’s El Sistema program.

William Eddins by Nate Ryan; Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha by Vera Elma Vacek

On Saturday, August 3 at 7:00 p.m., audiences will enjoy the North American debut of the new Africa United Youth Orchestra (AUYO), which is organized by South Africa’s national orchestra, the Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra. The AUYO is made up of stellar musicians from several African countries including South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Led by American conductor William Eddins, the first half of the concert will highlight groundbreaking works by South African composers M.M. Moerane and M. Khumalo. Opening the program will be Moerane’s Fatse La Heso (My Country), followed by arias from Khumalo’s uShaka KaSenzagakhona (a dramatic work about the legendary King of the Zulus) and Princess Magogo (the first Zulu opera), sung by South African soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha. The concert concludes with Dvořák’s Symphony No.9, “From the New World,” featuring members from NYO-USA.

Lü Jia by China NCPA Orchestra, Wu Man by Wind Music

On Sunday afternoon, August 4 at 4:00 p.m., Lü Jia leads the Beijing Youth Orchestra, an ensemble newly created by China’s National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA). Lü Jia, who has previously performed at Carnegie Hall as conductor of the renowned China NCPA Orchestra, leads a program to include both Western and Chinese orchestral works, including the New York premiere of Zhao Jiping’s Pipa Concerto No. 2 with guest soloist Wu Man, Bao Yuankai’s selections from Chinese Sights and Sounds, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5.

Marin Alsop by Nancy Horowitz, Jean-Yves Thibaudet by Elisabeth Caren

Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the USA takes the stage on Monday, August 5 at 7:00 p.m., led by conductor Marin Alsop. The orchestra performs Barber’s Symphony No. 1; Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue featuring pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet as soloist; and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. Eight musicians from Polyphony—the Nazareth-based educational program that brings together Arab and Jewish musicians from Israel in performance—join NYO-USA for their New York training residency and Carnegie Hall performance. Following its New York concert, NYO-USA embarks on a South American tour.

Iván Fischer by Ákos Stiller, Isata Kanneh-Mason by David Venni

The European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO) conducted by Iván Fischer, performs on Tuesday, August 6 at 7:00 p.m. with a program featuring Masquerade by Anna Clyne, recently appointed as the BBC Philharmonic’s composer in association; Dohnányi’s Variations on a Nursery Tune, Op. 25 with pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason as soloist; and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. Founded in 1976, the EUYO — comprised of extraordinary musicians ages 16–26 representing all 27 European Union countries — has served as the EU’s cultural ambassador with performances around the globe for close to 50 years. Four musicians from the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine join the EUYO as special guests for this performance. The orchestra last appeared at Carnegie Hall in 2012.

Afghan Youth Orchestra by Carole Parodi

The closing concert of the festival on Wednesday, August 7 at 7 features the Afghan Youth Orchestra, an inspiring collective of Afghan young musicians who were forced to flee their country in 2021, led by Tiago Moreira da Silva. Made up of dedicated musicians (ages 14–20) from the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM) founded by Dr. Ahmad Sarmast, the orchestra plays both Western and traditional Afghan instruments in repertoire that includes Western symphonic works, original compositions, and traditional Afghan music.