<p>Anyone have experience with NY Youth Symphony under the new administration there, and the new conductor?
In addition to the level of music making, how is the orchestra run? Reasonable? Unreasonable? Friendly students? Competitive and unpleasant? Parking on Sundays?
thanks.</p>
<p>My S was in it under the ‘old administration’,. but we have kept in touch with families who still have kids in the program. From what I know, it hasn’t changed all that much, it is still a very, very high level program and it is demanding, and from what I can tell the conductor is excellent. The fact that it is full scholarship (other than a relatively small fee for a retreat in the fall) is pretty amazing, given what other youth orchestras charge. </p>
<p>In terms of how it is run, it really depends on what you mean as being reasonable. They demand a lot, in that the rehearsals are 4 hours each Sunday and they are very strict with attendance, plus they have performances and rehearsal concerts as well. They also expect the kids to be prepared, have practiced their parts, and the conductors will do things like go person by person in a section to see why the playing isn’t good…and some kids and parents are not happy about that (from what I understand, the current conductor doesn’t do that all that often). If you are looking for something relatively easy going that will look good on a college resume, I would not recommend it, if the kid wants a pretty intense but rewarding musical experience, there are few that can match this IME, this is one of the elite youth symphonies around. </p>
<p>My S found that the kids were typical of any large group, there are some kids that are jerks, that think they are the greatest thing since sliced bread, but there also are a lot of nice kids, my son made a lot of friends there, both in the orchestra and the chamber program. They demand a lot out of the kids, but they also get a lot out of them, and they are playing very difficult repertoire, they weren’t afraid of the Rite of Spring or Mahler, for example. Put it this way, my S is at conservatory now, he was in a top level pre college program, and he felt that the NYYS as a whole was one of the best orchestral experiences he has had.</p>
<p>Parking may be an issue, though on a Sunday rules are generally looser with parking. It was a bit more difficult where they used to rehearse, up at Riverside Church, now that they practice at the Dimenna center it may be a bit easier on Sundays, they are over off of 10th ave, so there probably is parking on 11th ave and so forth. </p>
<p>Musicprnt, thanks for all the thoughts! </p>
<p>Not recent experience either…
DS participated in NY Youth for several years during undergrad/grad school, under old administration.
Very positive experience, he still remains close to some other players.
It was challenging material and schedule but son enjoyed that aspect.
He also had to take rather long train trek for Sunday rehearsals but he felt it well worth the effort.</p>
<p>Of course, we loved the Carnegie hall performances!</p>