New York Youth Symphony opens season at Carnegie Hall - 13-year-old pianist Harmony Zhu plus Joan Tower and Marco-Adrián Ramos

New York Youth Symphony Opens 57th Season

Led by Music Director Michael Repper

Featuring 13-Year-Old Pianist Harmony Zhu in Carnegie Hall Debut
Plus the World Premiere of a New Work by Marco-Adrián Ramos and Joan Tower's Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 1 

 Watch Harmony Zhu Perform Beethoven: https://youtu.be/1x61Z3rR5cI?t=1458

Sunday, November 17, 2019 at 2 PM

Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage | 57th Street & 7th Ave. | NYC

 NYYS Orchestra Season Subscriptions now available: www.nyys.org/events

Single Tickets available starting October 15, from $20 at www.carnegiehall.org, CarnegieCharge 212.247.7800, or the Carnegie Hall Box Office

New York, NY - The New York Youth Symphony (NYYS) opens its 2019-2020 season with a performance by the NYYS Orchestra on Sunday, November 17, 2019 at 2pm, at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, led by Music Director Michael Repper. The concert features thirteen-year-old prodigy pianist Harmony Zhu in her Carnegie Hall debut as part of the Roy & Shirley Durst Debut Artist Series performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, in celebration of Beethoven’s 250^th birthday year. The orchestra’s program includes the world premiere of First Music commission Rehén de tus labios, o Escena de telenovela (Hostage of your lips or Telenovela scene) by Marco-Adrián Ramos, the first performance of Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 1 at Carnegie Hall, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.

Harmony Zhu became the youngest “Young Steinway Artist” at age ten and has been featured three times on NBC’s The Ellen DeGeneres Show, CBC News, NPR’s From the Top, and CBS, among many others, for her exceptional gifts in piano, composition, and chess. She has performed with such renowned conductors as Leonard Slatkin, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and John Giordano, among others. Last year, she toured with the Israel Philharmonic, appeared with the Detroit Symphony for three concerts, and made her soloist debuts at the Ravinia Festival and Aspen Music Festival. The year prior, she opened The Philadelphia Orchestra’s season. A student of Yoheved Kaplinsky at Juilliard Pre-College since 2014, Harmony Zhu won the Concerto Competition in her first year of studying there. She has distinguished herself by consistently winning first prizes from an early age while competing within older age categories. Harmony Zhu is an accomplished composer and improviser, and studies composition with Ira Taxin. In chess, she holds the World Champion title in her age group after winning the World Youth Chess Championship. She enjoys reading, drawing, creative writing, spelling, math, history, dancing, singing, ping pong, playing violin, and bird watching. Harmony Zhu is also her school’s Spelling Bee Champion.

Marco-Adrián Ramos (b. 1995) is a Mexican-American composer and arranger. His new piece to be premiered on this concert is commissioned through First Music, the NYYS’s young composer competition which commissions America’s best emerging orchestra, chamber music, and jazz composers under the age of 30. According to Symphony Magazine, “During the last two decades, no youth orchestra in the country has been more relentlessly committed to generating new music.” Through First Music, the NYYS has commissioned over 160 original works for orchestra, chamber music, and jazz, since 1984.

Marco-Adrián Ramos’ new work began as an oblique response to Scheherazade, which the NYYS Orchestra also performs on this concert. Of his piece, Ramos writes, “The premise of 1001 Nights is ripe with kitsch and drama, and my mind wandered towards cheesy romance novel titles, and the hot-blooded histrionics of the telenovela. Rehén de tus labios o Escena de telenovela (Hostage of your lips or Telenovela scene) swiftly became an entity that is difficult to relate back to its initial impulse.”

Composers with whom Ramos has worked include Christopher Lacy, Christopher Rouse, Derek Bermel, Aaron Jay Kernis, Gabriela Lena Frank, Arturo Márquez, and Mari Kimura. He is the recipient of a 2016 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award (as well as twice being a finalist), an artist grant from the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures in conjunction with composer-mentor Gabriela Lena Frank, and a 2019 Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was also awarded the Arthur Friedman Prize in 2018 “for an outstanding orchestral work;” the piece Toys in a Field was premiered under the baton of Jeffrey Milarsky with the Juilliard Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall in New York City. Ramos studies at the Juilliard School, where he has been the recipient of the Gretchaninoff Memorial Prize, Henry Mancini Fellowship, and the Rodgers & Hammerstein Scholarship, as well as serving as a Teaching Fellow in the Ear Training department. He is currently in the studio of Juilliard faculty member Robert Beaser.

Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, No. 1 from 1986 was inspired by Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man. This is the first performance of the work to take place at Carnegie Hall. Tower writes, “This piece is dedicated to women who take risks and who are adventurous. Written under the Fanfare Project and commissioned by the Houston Symphony, the premiere performance was on January 10, 1987, with the Houston Symphony, Hans Vonk, conductor. This work is dedicated to the conductor Marin Alsop.”

Michael Repper is an emerging conductor of classical music, jazz, pops, and musical theater. A graduate of Stanford University, he recently completed his doctoral residency at the Peabody Conservatory of Music as a student of Gustav Meier and his longtime mentor, Marin Alsop. Repper was the Peabody Institute-Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Conducting Fellow for two seasons, and continues to work with the Peabody Institute ensembles. He holds leadership positions in several music organizations in the Baltimore area. He is currently Music Director of both the Northern Neck Orchestra and Baltimore Basilica, Assistant Conductor of the Concert Artists of Baltimore, and New Music Consultant for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Michael Repper’s international performances include a recent debut with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra in Brazil, masterclasses with the Artes Nazionale Orchestra in Florence, Italy, and performances in Australia.

Upcoming 2019-2020 NYYS Orchestra Concerts:

On Sunday, March 1, 2020 at 2 pm, The McCrindle Concert will feature Sphinx Competition-winning cellist Sterling Elliott performing Dvorák’s Cello Concerto in B Minor. The concert will also include the world premiere of First Music commission The Sycamore and the Oak by Yale composer Tanner Porter, written to be paired with Respighi’s Pines of Rome. Porter’s piece is co-commissioned by the Interlochen Arts Academy, and during its composition she is working with students at the KIPP Academy Middle School, who are using a variety of artforms to inspire her work.

The 2019-2020 NYYS Orchestra season concludes on Sunday, May 24, 2020 at 2 pm, with The Spring Concert, featuring pianist Michelle Cann making her Carnegie Hall debut in the first performance of Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement at Carnegie Hall. The program also includes the world premiere of First Music commission Here, We Are Something Else by Patrick O’ Malley and Mahler’s 1st Symphony, the “Titan.” Ms. Cann is appearing as part of the Roy and Shirley Durst Debut Artist Series, now in its 35^th year.

About the New York Youth Symphony:

The New York Youth Symphony educates and inspires young musicians through its Orchestra, Jazz, Chamber Music, Composition, Musical Theater Composition, Apprenticeship Conducting, and First Music commissioning programs. This season includes seven world premieres of new works commissioned through the First Music program, composed for the Orchestra, Jazz, and Chamber Music ensembles.

Founded in 1963, the NYYS is internationally recognized for its award-winning and innovative educational programs for talented young musicians. As the premier independent music education organization for ensemble training in the New York metropolitan area, the NYYS has provided over 6,000 music students unparalleled opportunities to perform at world-class venues including Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, National Sawdust, Joe’s Pub, and TheTimesCenter, and to study with world-renowned artists. Beyond the instruction from accomplished musicians, students gain valuable life skills — commitment, discipline, focus, collaboration — and friendships that last a lifetime. 

The NYYS is committed to partnering with traditionally underrepresented communities to create pathways for young people to find their way to music, and to a life in music. These community partnerships go beyond the stage to in-school residencies, free community concerts, and family involvement, and make music accessible to a wider and more diverse audience. The NYYS partners with organizations including the Harmony Program, Harlem School for the Arts, SongSpace, Maestra, the Youth Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Interlochen Arts Academy, BMI and ASCAP, plus offers fellowships to its current students and alumni/ae through the Vargas-Vetter/Ukena, Van Lier, and Orpheus Arts Management programs.

Executive Director Shauna Quill explains, “The New York Youth Symphony is proud of its 57-year history of providing outstanding music education to students through its six outstanding programs. We are committed to broadening access to the arts through our partnerships across the city as well as through fellowships which support students as they navigate the pathway towards college and perhaps a career in the arts. NYYS students and alumni become part of a community of musical citizens who engage with the arts for a lifetime.”

NEW YORK YOUTH SYMPHONY 2019-2020 PERFORMANCE CALENDAR

Tickets & Information: www.nyys.org/events

ORCHESTRA

Michael Repper, Music Director

Season Opening Concert

Stern/Perelman at Carnegie Hall

Sunday, November 17, 2019 at 2 PM

Joan Tower: Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 1 (Carnegie Hall premiere)
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, op. 15 with Harmony Zhu, piano (Roy & Shirley Durst Debut Artist)
Marco-Adrián Ramos: Rehén de tus labios, o Escena de telenovela (First Music world premiere)
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, op. 35 

The McCrindle Concert

Stern/Perelman at Carnegie Hall

Sunday, March 1, 2020 at 2 PM

Dvorák: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in B minor, op. 104 with Sterling Elliott, cello
Tanner Porter: The Sycamore and the Oak (First Music commission and world premiere)
Respighi: Pines of Rome

The Spring Concert

Stern/Perelman at Carnegie Hall

Sunday, May 24, 2020 at 2 PM

Patrick O’ Malley: Here, We Are Something Else (First Music commission and world premiere)
Florence Price: Piano Concerto in One Movement with Michelle Cann, piano (Carnegie Hall premiere, Roy & Shirley Durst Debut Artist)
Mahler: Symphony No. 1, “Titan” 

JAZZ

Andy Clausen, Director

“Fun Ride”: Swinging Through the Ages
Monday, December 3, 2019, at 7:30 & 9:30 PM at Dizzy’s Club, Jazz at Lincoln Center

Matt Horanzy: One Batch, Two Batch (First Music commissioned world premiere)

Soloist: Matt Wilson, drums

Celebrating Charlie Parker @ 100
Monday, March 9, 2020, at 7:30 & 9:30 PM at Dizzy’s Club, Jazz at Lincoln Center

Devin Reilly: In the Shadow of Tall Giants (First Music commission and world premiere)

Soloist: Steve Wilson, saxophone

Dreams of New Orleans

Monday, May 11, 2020 at 7:00 PM at TheTimesCenter

Greg Weis: The Pen is Mightier (First Music commission and world premiere)

Soloist: Wycliffe Gordon, trombone, trumpet, vocals

CHAMBER MUSIC

Dr. Lisa Tipton, Director

An Evening of Chamber Music

Monday, May 4, 2020 at 7:30 PM at Scandinavia House

An Evening Among Friends

Tuesday, May 5, 2020 at 7:30 PM at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall

Nina Shekhar: tikka (First Music commission and world premiere)

COMPOSITION

Dr. Kyle Blaha, Director 

Composition Date 2020

Thursday, May 14, 2020, at 7:00 PM at National Sawdust in Brooklyn

Featuring original student compositions performed by members of all NYYS programs

MUSICAL THEATER COMPOSITION

Anna Jacobs, Director

Musical Theater Composition Songwriter Showcase 2020

Tuesday, May 19, 2020, at 7:00PM at Joe’s Pub

Featuring original works, performed by NYYS students, and students from the Harlem School of the Arts