Carnegie Hall

Created by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute in summer 2016, NYO2 brings together outstanding young American instrumentalists ages 14–17 for a summer orchestral training program that includes a residency and an exciting concert at Carnegie Hall. Running in conjunction with the summer residency of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA) at Purchase College, State University of New York (SUNY), NYO2 offers an opportunity for younger participants to play alongside exceptionally talented peers and learn from a world-class faculty. With a focus on actively recruiting talented young players from across the country, the program aims to expand the pool of young musicians equipped with the tools to succeed at the highest level, particularly those who come from communities that have been underserved by and underrepresented in the classical music field.

Since its inaugural season, NYO2 has captivated audiences around the world through annual performances at Carnegie Hall; three summers of residencies and performances in Miami Beach in partnership with the New World Symphony; vibrant digital video projects and performances streamed worldwide; and most recently, its first international residency and performances, presented by Fundación Sinfonía in the Dominican Republic. Over the past eight years, NYO2 has worked with renowned faculty, guest artists, and conductors who include Mei-Ann Chen, Giancarlo Guerrero, Jennifer Koh, Gabriela Montero, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Gil Shaham, Esperanza Spalding, and Joseph Young. Described as “… not only a laudable educational project, but highly enjoyable and a lot of fun … these teenagers had the technical mastery, musicianship, and panache to rival anyone” (New York Classical Review), NYO2 has performed at the New World Center in Miami, Teatro Nacional Eduardo Brito in Santo Domingo, Gran Teatro del Cibao in Santiago, and Carnegie Hall.

NYO2 is one of Carnegie Hall’s three acclaimed national youth ensembles, which also include NYO-USA for outstanding classical musicians ages 16–19, which celebrated its 10th anniversary season last summer; and NYO Jazz for the nation’s finest jazz instrumentalists ages 16–19. Each of these prestigious national programs—free to all participants—is dedicated to the proposition that talented young musicians thrive when given the opportunity to expand their musical, social, and cultural horizons and share their artistry with audiences around the globe.

To learn more, visit carnegiehall.org/NYO2.

Teddy Abrams, Musical America’s 2022 Conductor of the Year, has been the galvanizing force behind the Louisville Orchestra’s (LO) extraordinary artistic renewal and commitment to innovative community engagement since his appointment as music director in September 2014.

Mr. Abrams and the LO began their 2023–2024 season on tour with Chris Thile as part of their multi-season project In Harmony—The Commonwealth Tour of the Louisville Orchestra. Other season highlights include music of Gabriel Kahane and John Adams; G. Mahler’s Symphony No. 6; and Creators Fest concerts that feature world premieres of works from the Louisville Orchestra Creators Corps.

Guest conducting engagements include appearances with the Chicago, Cincinnati, and National symphony orchestras; Kansas City, Utah, Houston, and San Francisco symphonies; Minnesota Orchestra; and Los Angeles Philharmonic. Internationally, he appears with the Helsinki Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg. Mr. Abrams makes his Boston Symphony Orchestra debut in spring 2025.

In 2023, Mr. Abrams premiered his own work Mammoth with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, bass-baritone Davóne Tines, and the LO in Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave. Other compositional highlights include a piano concerto for Yuja Wang, with which he and the LO made their Deutsche Grammophon debuts on her 2023 Grammy-winning release, The American Project; and Space Variations, composed for Universal Music Group’s 2022 World Sleep Day compilation. He is now at work on ALI, a musical about Muhammad Ali scheduled to premiere in spring 2025 in Chicago before opening on Broadway in the 2025–2026 season.

Other collaborations include the song cycle The Order of Nature, composed with Jim James, vocalist and guitarist for My Morning Jacket; and All In, a collection of American music that features singer-songwriter Storm Large, both released on Decca Gold.

Mr. Abrams concluded his 10-year tenure as music director and conductor of Oregon’s Britt Festival Orchestra in 2023. In addition to helming its annual three-week festival of concerts, he led the orchestra on tour with new works that included Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw’s Brush, written for their summer 2021 performance on the Jacksonville Woodlands Trail system; and Michael Gordon’s Natural History, whose world premiere performance at the edge of Crater Lake National Park—presented in partnership with the National Park Service—was the subject of the PBS documentary Symphony for Nature.

Winner of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, Demarre McGill has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras, including The Philadelphia Orchestra; San Francisco, Seattle, and San Diego symphonies; Pittsburgh, Dallas, Winnipeg, Hawaii, Hartford, and Baltimore symphony orchestras; and at age 15, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. McGill has participated in festivals around the globe, cofounded Art of Élan, is a founding member of the Myriad Trio, and has participated in the Marlboro Music Festival, Moab Music Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival.

With clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Michael McHale, Demarre McGill founded the McGill/McHale Trio in 2014, and the trio’s debut recording, Portraits, was released in 2017 to rave reviews. Demarre McGill’s other recordings include Winged Creatures with Anthony McGill and the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. McGill performs, coaches, and presents master classes throughout the US, Canada, Europe, Asia, and South Africa. Committed to teaching, he holds the position of associate professor of flute at the University of Cincinnati College–Conservatory of Music, is a member of the artist faculty at the Aspen Music Festival and School, and teaches at the National Orchestral Institute at the University of Maryland.

Now principal flute of the Seattle Symphony, Mr. McGill previously served as principal flute of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Florida Orchestra, and Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, and was acting principal flute of The Met Orchestra and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

A native of Chicago, Mr. McGill studied there with Susan Levitin and continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School with Jeffrey Khaner and Julius Baker.

Titus Underwood is principal oboe of the Nashville Symphony and Gateways Music Festival Orchestra, and co-principal of the Chineke! Orchestra. He is also the associate professor of oboe at the University of Cincinnati College–Conservatory of Music. In addition, he is a faculty artist at the Aspen Music Festival and School, and for Carnegie Hall’s national youth ensembles. A fierce advocate for amplifying voices of the historically underrepresented, he cofounded the Black Orchestral Network (BON) and Sphinx Orchestral Partners Auditions (SOPA). His personal endeavors in digital media have led to multiple releases, notably the short film A Tale of Two Tails. He has also won a Sphinx Medal of Excellence for his ongoing commitment to leadership and community, and an Emmy Award for his work executive producing We Are Nashville with the Nashville Symphony. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School, Colburn School, and Cleveland Institute of Music. Visit titusunderwood.com to learn more.

Hailed for his “trademark brilliance, penetrating sound, and rich character” (The New York Times), clarinetist Anthony McGill enjoys a dynamic international solo and chamber music career and is principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic—the first African American principal player in the organization’s history. He is the recipient of the 2020 Avery Fisher Prize, one of classical music’s most significant awards, and was named Musical America’s 2024 Instrumentalist of the Year. American Stories, his album with the Pacifica Quartet, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music / Small Ensemble Performance.

Mr. McGill appears as a soloist with top orchestras, including the New York and Los Angeles philharmonics; The Met Orchestra; and the Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, and Detroit symphony orchestras. He performed alongside Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Gabriela Montero at the inauguration of President Barack Obama, premiering a piece by John Williams. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with the Brentano, Daedalus, Guarneri, JACK, Miró, Shanghai, Takács, and Tokyo quartets, and performs with leading artists who include Emanuel Ax, Inon Barnatan, Gloria Chien, Yefim Bronfman, Gil Shaham, Midori, Mitsuko Uchida, and Lang Lang.

Mr. McGill serves on the faculty of The Juilliard School and is the artistic director for Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program. He holds the William R. and Hyunah Yu Brody Distinguished Chair at the Curtis Institute of Music.

In 2020, Mr. McGill’s #TakeTwoKnees campaign protesting the death of George Floyd and historic racial injustice went viral. In 2023, he partnered with Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative to organize a classical music industry convening at EJI’s Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, in which leaders and artists in classical music examined America’s history of racial inequality and how this legacy continues to influence their work. He is a Backun Artist and performs exclusively on Backun Clarinets.

Native Tennessean Andrew Brady joined The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in the 2022–2023 season as principal bassoon. He came to Minnesota from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, having served there as principal bassoon since January 2016. Prior to the ASO, he held the same position for two years with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.

As a soloist, Mr. Brady has performed concertos by Hertel, Rossini, Mozart, Weber, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Southeast Symphony, Los Angeles Doctors Symphony Orchestra, and Colburn Orchestra. He appears regularly as principal bassoon with the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra and has performed as guest principal with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, as well as at Carnegie Hall and on European tours with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

Mr. Brady’s artistry is in high demand and has taken him to South Africa, Korea, China, Mexico, and the United Kingdom, as well as many destinations within the contiguous United States for both performances and teaching engagements. In past summers, he has been a proud member of the Chineke! Orchestra, and he appeared with the orchestra at the 2017 BBC Proms. The ensemble is the UK’s first Black and ethnically diverse orchestra and seeks to promote diversity and change within classical music by increasing representation and visibility of musicians of color. He is also thrilled to have participated in the Juneteenth: A Global Celebration for Freedom concert with the ReCollective Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl in 2022. The concert was broadcast live on CNN and marked the first performance of an all-Black orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl. The celebration featured such legendary artists as Chaka Khan, The Roots, Michelle Williams, and Earth, Wind & Fire.

Enthusiastically involved in music education, Mr. Brady has taught as an artist in residence at Kennesaw State University and is sought after for master classes and private tutelage. He has also served on the faculties of the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute, Brevard Music Center, Festival Napa Valley, and national youth ensembles at Carnegie Hall.

Mr. Brady graduated with his bachelor’s degree in 2013 from the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Richard Beene. Other major teachers and influences include Anthony Parnther, Richard Ranti, and Suzanne Nelsen.