World Orchestra Week

A Celebration of International Youth Orchestras

Discover extraordinary youth orchestras from around the globe during Carnegie Hall’s World Orchestra Week (WOW!)—a history-making week inspired by the Hall’s own acclaimed national youth ensembles. Feel the excitement as these astonishing young musicians perform on our biggest stage with top conductors and soloists.

Check the event pages below for program details, featured artists and conductors, and more!

Concert Broadcasts

Due to limitations on streaming rights, certain works within these broadcasts may be unavailable for on-demand listening.

Afghan Youth Orchestra

Broadcast from August 7, 2024

Featuring dedicated young musicians (ages 14–22) from the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, the storied Afghan Youth Orchestra plays both Western and traditional Afghan instruments in repertoire that includes Western symphonic works, original compositions, and Afghan folk music. Recent tours have taken this extraordinary orchestra to the UK, where it recently made its Southbank Centre debut, and across Europe, including a historic performance that opened the 2023 UN Human Rights Conference in Switzerland. The ensemble—a symbol of hope for the people of Afghanistan, where music is currently banned—returns to Carnegie Hall for the first time in more than a decade. The young musicians are joined by members of the European Union Youth Orchestra in a special program that includes works by William Harvey, Sarahang, Awalmir, and Abdul Wahab Madadi, plus arrangements by conductor Tiago Moreira da Silva of works by Nainawaz, Brahms, Kodály, and popular artist Sediq Shabab.

National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America

Broadcast from August 5, 2024

One of the United States’ most renowned conductors, Marin Alsop leads the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America as part of Carnegie Hall’s World Orchestra Week (WOW!). The esteemed ensemble begins the concert with Barber’s Symphony No. 1, which condenses the traditional symphonic structure into a single captivating movement. Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, a popular recitalist at Carnegie Hall, joins as soloist in Rhapsody in Blue as part of the iconic work’s centennial celebration. The performance concludes with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, a colorful concert staple based on One Thousand and One Nights.

Beijing Youth Orchestra

Broadcast from August 4, 2024

This Sunday matinee concert—presented as part of Carnegie Hall’s World Orchestra Week (WOW!)—features the Beijing Youth Orchestra, an ensemble newly created by China’s National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA). Lü Jia, who has performed at Carnegie Hall as conductor of the renowned China NCPA Orchestra, leads this exceptional youth orchestra and the inimitable pipa virtuoso Wu Man in a program that includes both Western and Chinese orchestral works.

Africa United Youth Orchestra

Broadcast from August 3, 2024

Witness the North American debut of the Africa United Youth Orchestra (AUYO), organized by the Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra, South Africa’s national orchestra. AUYO comprises 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 highlights works by South African composers Michael Mosoeu Moerane, Mzilikazi Khumalo, and Bongani Ndodana-Breen. Opening the program is Moerane’s Fatše 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, who is also featured in one of Ndodana-Breen’s Three Orchestral Songs on Poems of Ingrid Jonker. The concert concludes with Dvořák’s beloved Symphony No. 9, “From the New World,” featuring members of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America.

National Children’s Symphony of Venezuela

Broadcast from August 2, 2024

Gustavo Dudamel conducts the National Children’s Symphony of Venezuela during Carnegie Hall’s World Orchestra Week (WOW!), which celebrates extraordinary youth ensembles from around the globe. In the first half of the program, the gifted young musicians perform John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine, Estévez’s symphonic poem Mediodía en el llano, and Ginastera’s Four Dances from Estancia, which the orchestra also performed in its unforgettable international debut at the Salzburg Festival. The second half of the concert comprises Shostakovich’s riveting Symphony No. 5.

NYO2

Broadcast from August 1, 2024

World Orchestra Week (WOW!) kicks off with a performance by NYO2—Carnegie Hall’s national youth orchestra for younger teens, called “superbly talented” (New York Classical Review) and “a bright future for classical music” (Musical America). Conducted by Teddy Abrams—and featuring principal players from several of the nation’s top orchestras as soloists—they perform some of the concert repertoire’s most beloved works. In addition to Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, and Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite, the program includes a Carnegie Hall co-commissioned world premiere by Emmy Award–winning composer Jasmine Barnes, who has been commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera, and many more.

World Orchestra Week Lead Donors: Hope and Robert F. Smith, Michael ByungJu Kim and Kyung Ah Park.

Major funding has been provided by Ronald E. Blaylock and Petra Pope.
United Airlines
NYO-USA performance sponsored by United Airlines®, Airline Partner to the National Youth Ensembles.
NYO-USA Lead Donors: Hope and Robert F. Smith, The Kovner Foundation, and Beatrice Santo Domingo.

Global Ambassadors: Michael ByungJu Kim and Kyung Ah Park, Hope and Robert F. Smith, and Maggie and Richard Tsai.
Major funding has been provided by Veronica Atkins, Mercedes T. Bass, Ronald E. Blaylock and Petra Pope, Lorraine Buch Fund for Young Artists, Estate of Joan Eliasoph, Clive and Anya Gillinson, The Carl Jacobs Foundation, The Pershing Square Foundation, Melanie and Jean E. Salata, and JMCMRJ Sorrell Foundation.
Additional funding has been provided by the Alphadyne Foundation, Sarah Arison, The Jack Benny Family Foundation, Mary Anne Huntsman Morgan and The Huntsman Foundation, IAC, Stella and Robert Jones, Martha and Robert Lipp, Beth and Joshua Nash, The Morton H. Meyerson Family Foundation, and David S. Winter.
Blavatnik Family Foundation
Founder Patrons: Blavatnik Family Foundation; Nicola and Beatrice Bulgari; The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; Marina Kellen French and the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation; The Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Family Foundation; Ronald O. Perelman; Robertson Foundation; Beatrice Santo Domingo; Hope and Robert F. Smith; Sarah Billinghurst Solomon and Howard Solomon; and Joan and Sanford I. Weill and the Weill Family Foundation.
NYO2 Lead Donors: Hope and Robert F. Smith, The Kovner Foundation, and Beatrice Santo Domingo.

Public support for NYO2 is provided by Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand through the U.S. Department of Education.  

Global Ambassadors: Michael ByungJu Kim and Kyung Ah Park, Hope and Robert F. Smith, and Maggie and Richard Tsai.
Mellon Foundation
Leadership support for NYO2 is provided by the Estate of Joan Eliasoph, and Mellon Foundation.
Major support for NYO2 is provided by Veronica Atkins, Mercedes T. Bass, Ronald E. Blaylock and Petra Pope, Clive and Anya Gillinson, Beth and Joshua Nash, The Pershing Square Foundation, Melanie and Jean E. Salata, and Sarah Billinghurst Solomon and Howard Solomon.
United Airlines®, Airline Partner to the National Youth Ensembles.
Founder Patron: Beatrice Santo Domingo.
Ernst & Young Logo
With additional funding provided by Alphadyne Foundation, Sarah Arison, Ernst & Young LLP, Stella and Robert Jones, Martha and Robert Lipp, the Morton H. Meyerson Family Foundation, and David S. Winter.

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