Pocono music lovers were treated to a wonderful performance this past Friday by the National Youth Orchestra of China (NYO-China) on the campus of East Stroudsburg University (ESU).
If you think that “youth orchestra” suggests less than virtuosity, you’d be sadly mistaken.
These are brilliant students with many attending Julliard and other top international music schools.
NPR’s “From The Top”
The NPR program “From the Top” was present to record the concert in a special program to be aired soon. We’ll share the link when we have it. Friday’s concert was part of a From the Top episode, complete with announcements.
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PYO/NYO-China
We became involved with NYO-China through our support of the Pocono Youth Orchestra (PYO).
Our firm supports the PYO both financially and with a donation of time. It’s a great organization supporting music education in eastern Pennsylvania, western New Jersey and the Lehigh Valley.
Three of our partners have children who perform in the PYO and I have been the President of the Board of directors for many years and have enjoyed every minute of it.
When we heard that the Chinese orchestra would be in residence at ESU for two weeks to train for their concert tour, we accepted ESU’s generous invitation to participate in the events.
Chinese Love Walmart
We had all hoped the students would be charmed by the beauty of the Poconos, and they probably were. However, they admitted to us that their favorite Poconos experience was shopping at the East Stroudsburg Walmart. We’ll have to do something about that when they return.
PYO/NYO-China Pizza Party
On Friday night, the PYO helped to host a Pizza Party at ESU.
About 30 minutes after the party started, our gathering was cut short by a violent downpour, but not before we shot this photo.
I was pleased to have met so many friendly Chinese students who introduced themselves to me and spoke about their experiences in Monroe County. The students are all passionate about music.
I was also happy to meet Jindong Cai, one of the assistant conductors, who has been a professor at Stanford University since 2004 and the author of two books: “Rhapsody in Red: How Western Classical Music Became Chinese” and “Beethoven in China: How the Great Composer Became an Icon in the People’s Republic.”
I’ll add these to my reading list.
Carnegie Hall Debut & China Tour
NYO-China is debuting at Carnegie Hall on July 22, 2017 and then will perform in a three-city concert tour of China featuring pianist Olga Kern.
We wish NYO-China well and we hope our new friends will return next year!
~Jerry Geiger
