Empire State Youth Orchestras (ESYO) is an ensemble of classical music performing groups aimed at providing talented young musicians with an opportunity to participate in group ensembles with other similar musicians. Based in the

Capital Region A capital region, also called a capital district or capital territory, is a region or district surrounding a capital city. It is not always the official term for the region, but may sometimes be used as an informal synonym. Capital regions can exis ...

of upstate

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, ESYO ensembles are composed of a total of approximately 300 talented and musically advanced high- and middle-school students from New York and western

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

. The most advanced group, the Symphony Orchestra, is considered one of the premier

youth orchestra A youth orchestra is an orchestra made of Youth, young musicians, typically ranging from pre-teens or teenagers to those of Music school, conservatory age. Depending on the age range and selectiveness, they may serve different purposes. Orchest ...

s in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and regularly performs concerts at the

Troy Savings Bank Music Hall Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, is a performance space in Troy, Rensselaer County, New York, United States. The music hall, renowned for its acoustics and an Odell concert organ, is operated by a not-for-profit organization. It was designated ...

, Ozawa Hall at the

Tanglewood Music Center The Tanglewood Music Center is an annual summer music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, in which emerging professional musicians participate in performances, master classes and workshops. The center operates as a part of the Tanglew ...

, and

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

and in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

History

In 1979, Barry Richman founded ESYO, consisting of a single orchestra, known as the "Youth Orchestra." Along with two colleagues, Lois Lyman and Eleanor Barnes, Richman brought together a group of parents and music educators. Together they organized an orchestra for some of the talented young musicians throughout the Capital Region. The Empire State Junior Orchestra was added in 1981 for middle-school aged students, and over time, additional ensembles were added to allow even more young people to participate. Today's ESYO consists of nine performing ensembles including over 300 musicians: two full orchestras, a wind orchestra, a string ensemble, two jazz ensembles, and three percussion ensembles. Previous conductors of the orchestra have included Victoria Bond, Eiji Oue,

Paavo Järvi Paavo Järvi (; born 30 December 1962) is an Estonian-American conductor. Early life Järvi was born in Tallinn, Estonia, to Liilia Järvi and the Estonian conductor Neeme Järvi. His siblings, Kristjan Järvi and Maarika Järvi, are also mu ...

, Francisco Noya, Jin Kim, Burton Kaplan, Helen Cha-Pyo, and Carlos Ágreda.

Ensembles

ESYO is composed of thirteen ensembles: * ESYO Symphony Orchestra - Etienne Abelin, Conductor * ESYO Repertory Orchestra - David Beck, Conductor * ESYO Wind Orchestra - Robert Hansbrough, Conductor * ESYO String Orchestra - Joseph Gumpper, Conductor * ESYO Youth Jazz Orchestra- Lee Russo, Conductor * ESYO Repertory Jazz Orchestra - David Fisk, Conductor * ESYO Youth Percussion Ensemble - Richard Albagli and Mark Foster, Co-Conductors * ESYO Repertory Percussion Ensemble - Richard Albagli and John Antonio, Co-Conductors * ESYO Chamber Percussion Ensemble - Genoveffa Vitale, Conductor *ESYO Concertino Strings - Leo Milman, Conductor *ESYO Concertino Wind Choir, Julie Taylor *ESYO Concertino Brass Choir, Scott Hopkins *ESYO Chorale, Rae Jean Teeter

Programming

The Youth Orchestra is well known for its 30+ year participation in CBS 6’s Melodies of Christmas (benefit concerts for the Melodies Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders at the Children’s Hospital at

Albany Medical Center Albany Medical Center (AMC) is the name of the umbrella organization over the Albany Medical Center Hospital and Albany Medical College in Albany, New York. Though the name Albany Medical Center referring to the two institutions on their shared c ...

). ESYO’s ensembles also give approximately 30 public performances a year. ESYO reaches out to the community with an annual free concert for senior citizens, concerts for young people, recitals in nursing homes, and performances at public events. In addition, the ensembles perform an annual "Playathon" fundraiser at

Crossgates Mall Crossgates Mall is an enclosed, automobile-oriented, super-regional shopping mall located in the Albany, New York suburb of Guilderland. It is the largest indoor shopping center in the Capital District, and the third largest in the State of New ...

in which they play for the entire day. In May 2010, the Youth Orchestra performed for the first time at

EMPAC The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) is a multi-venue arts center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, which opened on October 3, 2008. The building is named after Curtis Priem, co-founder ...

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

in the grand finale concert of the

Albany Symphony Orchestra The Albany Symphony Orchestra is a professional symphony orchestra based in Albany, New York. Founded in 1930 as the People's Orchestra of Albany by Italian-born conductor John Carabella, the Albany Symphony is the oldest professional symphony ...

's American Music Festival. Other ESYO ensembles routinely perform at the Massry Center for the Arts,

The College of Saint Rose The College of Saint Rose is a private Roman Catholic college in Albany, New York. It was founded in 1920 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet as a women's college. It became fully co-educational in 1969; the following year, the college a ...

, as well as at area high schools. The Repertory Orchestra routinely performs with Albany Pro Musica at its annual High School Choral Festival. In June 2011, ESYO won 2nd prize for Adventurous Programming (Youth Division) from

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

(American Society of Composer, Authors, and Publishers). The award was presented to Music Director Helen Cha-Pyo at the League of American Orchestra's annual conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This was the 3rd ASCAP award for ESYO; in June 2008, ESYO received 1st prize for Adventurous Programming (Youth Division) and the rarely presented Award for American Programming on Foreign Tours. During June 2020, ESYO live streamed a three-day digital music festival title

among the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The campaign took at-home video from students and musicians and broadcast them in a virtual concert format. During Day 3 of the festival, ESYO unveiled the first ever 360° video At-Home Orchestra, which featured 125 musicians performing "Ay Caray", an original composition b
Carlos Ágreda
in a 3d environment.

Touring

The Youth Orchestra embarked on a fifth international tour in the summer of 2012 after accepting an invitation to perform at the 2012 World Expo in

Yeosu Yeosu (; ''Yeosu-si''), historically also Yosu, and known to the Japanese as Reisui during the period when Korea was under Japanese rule, is a city located on the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula in South Jeolla Province, South Korea and ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. The orchestra also gave concerts in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, and

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

. Previous tours included traveling to

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

in 1989, to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in 1994, to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

in 2000, and to Germany, the Czech Republic, and Austria in 2008. In the Summer of 2018 the ESYO Wind Orchestra embarked on an international tour for the first time, including Hungary. The 2008 tour was particularly distinguished as the Youth Orchestra premiered American composer Samuel Adler's piece "A Bridge to Understanding" with Dr. Adler accompanying the orchestra on tour. "A Bridge to Understanding" was commissioned by ESYO for its Youth Orchestra to perform in a festival of new music in March 2008. During that festival, ESYO ensembles premiered nine pieces - one commissioned for each of ESYO's performing ensembles. The festival was funded in part by a $100,000 grant from New York State Music Fund at

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that currently advises on and manages more than $200 million in annual charitable giving. Its headquarters are in New York City New York, oft ...

. A future tour will occur in July 2020 to Argentina and Uruguay.

Outreach

In addition to its performing groups, in 2015 ESYO launched CHIME, an "El Sistema" based program. Through free, daily music instruction and mentorship, ESYO CHIME provides young musicians from poor communities comprehensive support at both the elementary and middle school levels. ESYO provided free private lessons to poor students in Schenectady for nearly two decades, and in 2015, in partnership with the Schenectady City School District (SCSD), it launched a new access program called, Creating Harmony Invigorating Music Education—CHIME. Beginning with a cohort of 30 children at Schenectady's Yates Arts in Education Magnet School, CHIME now serves more than 100 children at three Schenectady program sites with plans to add a fourth by 2020. In 2018 ESYO opened a Troy site

References

{{authority control American youth orchestras 1979 establishments in New York (state) Musical groups established in 1979 Youth organizations based in New York (state) Capital District (New York) Orchestras based in New York (state)