NYO-USA Announces Five-City European Tour

Carnegie Hall has announced that the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA) will return to the BBC Proms in London for the first time since the orchestra’s inaugural 2013 season, performing on Sunday, August 11, 2019 at 11:00 a.m.

Conductor Sir Antonio Pappano will lead NYO-USA in Strauss’s Eine Alpensinfonie and Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été featuring mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. The concert will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and filmed for delayed viewing on BBC Four TV, to air on Friday, August 16.

The orchestra’s European tour also includes a performance as part of the Young Euro Classic series at Konzerthaus Berlin (August 6) with mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly, as well as at the Edinburgh International Festival (August 9), Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam (August 13), and Elphilharmonie Hamburg (August 14) with Ms. DiDonato. The tour marks NYO-USA’s debut in Berlin, Edinburgh, and Hamburg. The orchestra last appeared in Amsterdam in summer 2016.

Before traveling overseas, NYO-USA returns to Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts (August 1)—the orchestra’s first appearance there since summer 2014—leading up to their annual summer concert at Carnegie Hall on Saturday, August 3 at 8:00 p.m. featuring mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard. NYO-USA’s repertoire for summer 2019 includes Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été, Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, and Strauss’s Eine Alpensinfonie (see below for individual concert listings). The concerts will also include new works written for the orchestra by NYO-USA’s 2019 apprentice composers Benjamin S. Beckman and Tyson J. Davis.

“We are thrilled that the National Youth Orchestra of the USA will be returning to London, Amsterdam, and Tanglewood in summer 2019 under the baton of Sir Antonio Pappano, as well as making exciting debuts in Berlin, Edinburgh, and Hamburg” said Clive Gillinson, Carnegie Hall’s executive and artistic director. “This promises to be an unforgettable summer of new discoveries for these talented young players, offering opportunities to present extraordinary performances around the world while serving as dynamic musical ambassadors for their country.”