<p>Has anyone taken part in the Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall? Is it a worthwhile experience? Any information is greatly appreciated. :)</p>
<p>Wow, has no one head of this program? The music teacher at school told us about it. Not sure if it is a true learning experience or just a “junket” in disguise…</p>
<p>Just looked it up and saw that it is put on by Heritage Festivals, same group that high schools bands use to take band trips with. I believe my daughter may have received an invitation for something like this, perhaps it is the band directors that nominate students?</p>
<p>Anyway, does it cost anything? If it does, it is not an elite training school. Sure, it could be fun, if you’ve got the money. But if you are looking for a serious music training experience for a future performance major, your money would be better spent sending them to a competitive summer institute where they have to audition.</p>
<p>Thanks wood winds. Son already gets a good deal of training during the school year. He also went to middle school program at Berklee last summer and will be working on music over this summer. When he gets into high school wants to go to Interlochen or Tanglewood. (If we can afford it with college tuition for oldest looming on the horizon!).
Music Director gave us the invitation to this Carnegie Hall program and I was just hoping to find someone who had gone.
It is obviously not an elite program, but I thought that the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall was enticing.<br>
I’d love to hear from someone with experience with this program who could tell me about the experience and the levels of talent among the participants.</p>
<p>My daughter participated in the Honors Performance Choir at Carnegie Hall and she loved it. The level of talent in the choir, band and orchestra was phenomenal. She made some wonderful friends from all over the US. My husband and I accompanied her and we also had a wonderful time. It did cost about 2500.00 per person but it was well worth the money. The experience of singing at Carnegie Hall was amazing and a memory she will never forget.</p>
<p>Thanks altosrule.<br>
Has anyone else performed at Carnegie Hall outside of this program? Are there other programs or contests that offer this opportunity?</p>
<p>LOTS and lots and lots of programs offer the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall. These for-profits know that it still holds a certain amount of cache. My 89 year old mom still thinks her dentist is the next Pavarotti since he sang there two years ago. Since anyone can rent the space, it’s not necessarily the sort of thing that you put on a music resume to impress schools. But even if it is just a pay-to-perform I am sure it is still a big thrill.</p>
<p>Son of course would be thrilled to perform at Carnegie Hall.
He has some accomplishments -All County, All-State, ACDA, etc. These activities offer great learning experience. Although his music director would like to nominate him, and there is an audition required, I am not so sure how selective it might be. I would hate to spend money on this for-profit program if the only benefit is the ego boost of saying he performed at Carnegie Hall. If there is educational value, that is a different story…</p>
<p>musicamusica is right. Jack Benny notwithstanding, anyone who can afford to rent the space can produce a concert at Carnegie Hall. It’s a thrill to perform in the hall (and by the way, there are several venues at Carnegie) but it is not necessarily prestigious.</p>
<p>Agreed, all kind of organizations rent out Carnegie Hall. I remember seeing one of these postings for some ‘prodigy’ who ‘made their carnegie hall debut at 8’, turns out they were the winner of some music competition put on by a cultural group… I have known well off families who have rented out Weill or Zankel recital halls for their kids…</p>
<p>With groups playing the main stage, the levels are inconsistent. Groups like the New York String orchestra seminar, or the New York Youth Symphony, are high level programs (both are auditioned and full scholarship,competitive as hell), the ones you pay for often, quite frankly, are paying for the thrill of playing Carnegie Hall (which is still a great experience, other than the people who work there, nuff said).</p>