Home Announcement Where are we going??

Where are we going??

by Lindsey Nova

The 2017-18 Season is a travel year!

  • YPO will embark on its first international tour June 14-24, 2018 and will spend 10 days visiting Prague, Vienna, and Budapest. YPO will perform four concerts (one in Prague, one in Vienna, and two in Budapest), including a performance in Prague’s iconic Dvorak Hall (pictured above). FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE 2017-18 TOUR CLICK HERE. 
  • In March 2018, Symphonette had an exchange with the Youth Philharmonic from the DC Youth Orchestra program, where each ensemble visited each other’s cities, got to know other like-minded young musicians, and got to work with each other’s conductors.

Why tour?

We believe immersive opportunities like traveling are extremely important for our young musicians. These experiences have an opportunity to provide influential and crucial perspective for our young people, while simultaneously creating lifelong bonds with the music they perform as well as lifelong friendships. Don’t take our word for it, here is a testimonial from a TRYPO Board Member who had the opportunity to participate in several youth orchestra tours:

I am excited to learn that TRYPO is undertaking a European Tour in the 2017-18 season and honored to be a part of the organization.  In my younger days, I had the joy of doing two international tours as a youth orchestra member.  A two-week tour with the Empire State Youth Orchestra (Albany, NY) took me to Austria and Hungary in 1988.  In 1990 I was a guest with the Long Island Youth Orchestra on a six-week journey through Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, and the former Soviet Union.

Those were very different times to be an international traveler. We were in East Berlin – with remnants of the wall still standing – on the day of the economic reunification between East and West Germany. Later that night, I experimented with my 11th grade German, conversing with a young East German couple. We spoke for hours, sating each other’s’ curiosities, and I was surprised that their interest in American current events were greater than most of my fellow travelers. 

But it was my young colleagues traveling with me that I remember most vividly.  Living with other people in an intense situation like this taught me more about myself than any other single experience I have had.  I learned that being a member of this wonderful organism called an orchestra was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.  This was over 25 years ago, and life has taken us all in different directions, but it’s always fun catching up with the Long Island trumpeter/cardiologist, the New York Public Library hornist/reference librarian, the North Carolina pianist/stay-at-home mother of four, or the violinist who now sits just rows in front of me in the Pittsburgh Symphony and is a TRYPO violin coach [Dennis O’Boyle].

STEPHEN KOSTYNIAK
Associate Principal Horn, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Faculty at Carnegie Mellon University School of Music
Member of the TRYPO Board of Directors

Please support us with a donation!

It goes without saying that the 2017-18 Season will have a very large fund-raising goal as we work to keep this opportunity affordable for our members, and provide financial assistance for families with limited financial resources. Can you help us?

Want to make sure your donation goes to the 2017-18 Tour Fund?

  • If donating with a credit card, click HERE and be sure to include a note where you want your donation to go by clicking on “Write a note” or send us an e-mail at staff@trypo.org
  • If donating with a check or cash, include a note with your donation.

Thank you! We couldn’t provide these amazing opportunities to our members without the support of our community!

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