Interlochen students, alumni selected to 2024 National Youth Ensembles

More than 20 Art Academy students and Arts Camp alumni will tour with Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra, NYO2, and NYO Jazz groups this summer.

Arts Academy horn student Sydney Richardson rehearses with the IAA Wind Symphony

2024 National Youth Orchestra selectee Sydney Richardson rehearses with the Arts Academy Wind Symphony.

More than 20 current Interlochen Arts Academy students and Arts Camp alumni have been selected to participate in the summer 2024 National Youth Ensembles.

Convened annually by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, the National Youth Ensembles unite the brightest young musicians from across the United States for a free intensive training program and touring experience. Since the program’s founding in 2012, nearly 1,200 students have performed and served as musical ambassadors in 17 countries across four continents.

Participants in the program’s three ensembles—the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA), NYO2, and NYO Jazz—will work with leading professional musicians during a multi-week residency at Purchase College and present a performance at Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage before embarking on a national or international tour.

NYO-USA is composed of musicians ages 16-19 selected through a comprehensive audition process. The 2024 ensemble will tour in South America, with performances in Montevideo, Uruguay; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil. Conductor Marin Alsop and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet will join the ensemble as guest artists. The Interlochen Arts Academy students and Arts Camp alumni selected to perform in the 2024 NYO-USA are:

  • Alvin Wang (IAC 16-17), violin
  • Lillie Harper (IAC 23), viola
  • Heike Lowe (IAC 22), double bass
  • Kyle Cho (IAC 21-23), oboe
  • Jacob Pagone (IAC 22), oboe
  • Ariana Kim (IAC 21), bassoon
  • Sydney Richardson (IAA 23-), horn
  • Henry Price (IAC 22, IAA 23-), trombone
  • Julian Jimenez-Pardo (IAC 22, IAA 22-), percussion
  • Anh Ho (IAC 22), percussion

Open to young musicians ages 14-17, NYO2 focuses on recruiting musicians from communities underrepresented in classical music. The 2024 NYO2 will perform at Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage and Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Texas. The Interlochen Arts Academy students and Arts Camp alumni among the ranks of NYO2 are:

  • Ethan Zhou (IAC 23), violin
  • Sophia Alexander (IAC 19), cello
  • Ian Kim (IAC 23), double bass
  • Daniel Xu (IAC 23), clarinet
  • Summer Su (IAC 22), alto saxophone
  • Lily Clark (IAC 22-23, IAA 23-), trumpet
  • June Eickholt (IAA 23-), tuba

NYO Jazz convenes young jazz artists ages 16-19 with the goal of sharing this uniquely American genre with audiences around the world. The 2024 ensemble will tour in South Africa—with stops in Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town—with bandleader Sean Jones and guest soloist Alicia Olatuja. The Interlochen-affiliated musicians in NYO Jazz are:

  • Miriam Goroff-Behel (IAC 22-23), alto saxophone
  • Isaac Hanson (IAC 22), alto saxophone
  • Ava Siu (IAC 23, IAA 23-24), bass trombone
  • Jasper Zimmerman (IAC 23), piano