JASMINE BARNES KINSFOLKNEM Co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall
DEMARRE MCGILL FLUTE
ANTHONY MCGILL CLARINET
TITUS UNDERWOOD OBOE
ANDREW BRADY BASSOON
INTERMISSION
TCHAIKOVSKY Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture
(Approximate duration 20 minutes)
STRAVINSKY Suite from The Firebird
(Approximate duration 20 minutes)
Lead Donors: Hope and Robert F. Smith, The Kovner Foundation, and Beatrice Santo Domingo.
Public support for NYO2 is provided by Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand through the U.S. Department of Education.
Global Ambassadors: Michael ByungJu Kim and Kyung Ah Park, Hope and Robert F. Smith, and Maggie and Richard Tsai.
Leadership support for NYO2 is provided by Estate of Joan Eliasoph, and Mellon Foundation.
Major support for NYO2 is provided by Veronica Atkins, Mercedes T. Bass, Ronald E. Blaylock and Petra Pope, Clive and Anya Gillinson, Beth and Joshua Nash, The Pershing Square Foundation, Melanie and Jean E. Salata, and Sarah Billinghurst Solomon and Howard Solomon.
United Airlines®, Airline Partner to the National Youth Ensembles.
Founder Patron: Beatrice Santo Domingo.
With additional funding provided by Alphadyne Foundation, Sarah Arison, Ernst & Young LLP, Stella and Robert Jones, Martha and Robert Lipp, the Morton H. Meyerson Family Foundation, and David S. Winter.
Management for Teddy Abrams: Opus 3 Artists
Management for Demarre McGill, Anthony McGill, Titus Underwood, Andrew Brady: MKI Artists
NYO2 Roster
VIOLIN
Claire Cho, Atlanta, GA
Minji Choi, Irvine, CA
Aidan Davis, Orlando, FL
Yuuki Donnelly, Rocky Point, NY + Jack Feng, Memphis, TN
Ivy Hahn, Manhattan, NY
Euisun Hong, Pleasanton, CA +
Rachel Jung, Bellevue, WA
Alisa Keel, Cary, NC
Rebekah Koh, Harker Heights, TX
Jiyu Lee, Fullerton, CA +
Joshua Lee, Phoenix, AZ
Pauline Lee, Omaha, NE +
Yixuan Li, Rockville, MD
Angelina Lu, Atlanta, GA +
Nathan Ma, Fayetteville, AR
Meg McMurtrey, Eagle Mountain, UT +
Faith Meshida, Dacula, GA +
Natalie Oh, Oradell, NJ
Yeonjoo Oh, Frisco, TX
Daniel Rocha, Corpus Christi, TX
Gabe Sagini, Grand Forks, ND
Henry Stroud, Berkeley, CA
Seva Swan, Mililani, HI +
Leo Trajano, Hillsboro, OR
Sophia Vu, Slidell, LA
Leila Warren, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL +
Ethan Zhou, San Diego, CA
VIOLA
Macy Brummal, Rogers, AR
Dana Chung, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Tanav Gowda, Princeton Junction, NJ
Jonathan Henderson, Rockville, MD
Heejae Kayla Kim, Irvine, CA +
Kathleen Lee, New York, NY
Hazel Peebles, New York, NY
Diego Sanchez-Ochoa, Las Vegas, NV
Jonathan So, Manlius, NY + Isabelle Son, Cresskill, NJ +
Rebekah Sung, Fremont, CA
Sabine Voelker, Eugene, OR
CELLO
Sophia Alexander, Minneapolis, MN
Grant Chythlook, Anchorage, AK
Noah Crumbly, Chesapeake, VA
Gabriel Irazabal, San Jose, CA
Brandon Kang, Palo Alto, CA
Kathy Liu, Stillwater, OK +
James Jiyu Obasiolu, Columbia, MD +
Dylan Perez, Tulsa, OK
Leyuan Zhang, Pleasanton, CA
BASS
Indio Duran, Hillburn, NY + Ian Kim, Saratoga, CA
Noah La Porte, Pasadena, CA + Joshua Lee, Great Neck, NY
Liana D. Logan, Queens, NY +
Cade Peckham, Clovis, CA
Jason Samuels, Oklahoma City, OK
FLUTE
Grace Kim, Mason, OH
Charlie Tullis, Prairie Grove, AR
Cara Xu, Arcadia, CA + OBOE
Hannah Cho, Tustin, CA + Irene Lee, New York, NY + Luke Zegowitz, Crofton, MD + CLARINET
Greyson Monroe §, Allen, TX
Su Min Pyo, Belmont, MA
David Suarez, Bedford, TX
Daniel Xu, Exton, PA
ALTO SAXOPHONE
Summer Su, Ann Arbor, MI
BASSOON
Dhiren Sivapala, Boston, MA
Austin Vitello, Clarence Center, NY
Grace Yoon, Wallingford, CT + HORN
Elena Elorreaga, Austin, TX
Karlin Rhees, Eastvale, CA
Levi Robertson, Dallas, TX
Haruka Sakiyama, Portland, OR
Jordan Wilson, Lake Worth, FL +
TRUMPET
Lily Clark, Niagara Falls, NY
Christian Garner, Minnetonka, MN + Ananth Raman, Bridgewater, NJ
Isaac Won, Potomac, MD
TROMBONE
Samuel Jacobowitz, Brooklyn, NY
Gabriel Silva, Buford, GA
BASS TROMBONE
David Sato, Austin, TX
TUBA
June Eickholt, Colleyville, TX
TIMPANI & PERCUSSION
Harrison Buck, Madison, GA
Luke Davis, Memphis, TN
Omar Khan, Orlando, FL
Max Posnock, Brevard, NC
Cory Sedwick, Floyds Knobs, IN HARP
Seun Ayadi, Sugar Land, TX
ORCHESTRAL KEYBOARD
Jeremy Wong, Newtown, PA
NYO2 Staff
ARTISTIC STAFF
James Ross, Orchestra Director
Shira Samuels-Shragg, Associate Conductor
Tamara Dworetz, Associate Conductor
CARNEGIE HALL STAFF
Clive Gillinson, Executive and Artistic Director
Sarah Johnson, Chief Education Officer, Director, Weill Music Institute
Douglas Beck, Director, Artist Training Programs
Siobhan Falanga, Manager, Artist Training Programs
Becky Spiewak, Manager, Education Production
Katie Glasgow, Associate, Public Relations
Ross Marshall, Production Manager, Educational Media & Technology
ORCHESTRA STAFF
Elaine Li, Orchestra Librarian
Joe Soucy, Guest Program Director
Tim Tsukomoto, Orchestra Manager
Dan Pate, Lead Percussion Manager
Braden Vaughn, Assistant Percussion Manager
Ryan McAuley, MD, MPH
Heather Hunt, RN
RESIDENT ASSISTANTS
Helen Bryant Cody Chang
Britta Elsbernd
Antonio Jarvey
Franco Ortiz-Gallo
Justin Zeitlinger
Jasmine Barnes Composer
Jasmine Arielle Barnes is a promising young composer and vocalist whose works have been performed worldwide. She is a multifaceted composer who embraces a variety of genres, formats, and instrumentations, with a specialty of writing for the voice. She recently won a Capital Emmy for Diversity/Equity/ Inclusion–Long Form Content for the Maryland Public Television documentary film Artworks: Dreamer, which featured her piece Portraits: Douglass & Tubman.
Barnes is currently a composer-inresidence at American Lyric Theater, and previously served as a composer fellow at Chautauqua Opera Company and composer-in-residence with All Classical Radio in Portland, Oregon. Her work is in high demand, with recent commissions from respected institutions throughout the country that include Washington National Opera (for the Kennedy Center’s 50th anniversary), Bare Opera, Resonance Ensemble, Tapestry Choir, City Works in Cleveland, Lyric Fest Philadelphia, Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Burleigh Music Festival, Symphony Number One, Baltimore Musicales, and The Voic(ed) Project, among others.
A Note From the Composer
Engagements in the 2022–2023 season included the world premiere of Plumshuga, an arrangement of spirituals commissioned by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and performed at Carnegie Hall by Karen Slack and Will Liverman; a composition for Lawrence Brownlee’s recital tour Rising; and a new song cycle commissioned by world-renowned tenor Russell Thomas that was performed at Los Angeles Opera. Last season, her works had world premieres by Third Practice, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Apollo Chamber Players, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Her 10-minute opera The Late Walk, commissioned by Bare Opera as a part of the Decameron Opera Coalition, has been archived in the Library of Congress. Barne’s new Opera She Who Dared with Libretto by Deborah Mouton will have its world premiere at the Chicago Opera Theater in the spring of 2025.
KINSFOLKNEM is a celebration of family and extended family gathering . The piece highlights the sound world of places and themes surrounding Black family gatherings. The first movement “The Sunday Dinner” showcases themes of gospel idioms much like the second movement “The Repast”. The third and last movement “The Reunion” is a final celebration of the sort. It features the sound world of a Black cookout.
Teddy Abrams Conductor
Teddy Abrams, Musical America’s 2022 Conductor of the Year, has been the galvanizing force behind the Louisville Orchestra’s extraordinary artistic renewal and commitment to innovative community engagement since his appointment as Music Director in September 2014.
Abrams and the LO began their 2023-24 season on tour with Chris Thile as part of their multi-season project “In Harmony –The Commonwealth Tour of the Louisville Orchestra.” Other season highlights include music of Gabriel Kahane and John Adams; Mahler’s “Tragic” Symphony No. 6; and “Creators Fest” concerts featuring world premieres of works from the Louisville Orchestra Creators Corps.
Guest conducting includes engagements with the orchestras of Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Cincinnati, Houston, Minnesota, Utah, and Kansas City; and internationally with the Helsinki Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg. Abrams makes his Boston Symphony debut in Spring 2025.
In April 2023, Abrams premiered his own work Mammoth with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, bass-baritone Davóne Tines and the LO in Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave. Other compositional highlights include a
piano concerto for Yuja Wang, with which he and the Louisville Orchestra made their Deutsche Grammophon debuts on her March 2023 GRAMMY-winning release, The American Project; and Space Variations, composed for Universal Music Group’s 2022 World Sleep Day. Abrams is now at work on ALI, a musical about Muhammad Ali scheduled to premiere in Spring 2024 in Chicago, before opening on Broadway in the 2025-26 season.
Other collaborations include the song cycle The Order of Nature, composed with Jim James, vocalist and guitarist for My Morning Jacket, and All In, a collection of American music featuring singer-songwriter Storm Large, both released on Decca Gold.
Abrams concluded his ten-year tenure as Music Director and Conductor of Oregon’s Britt Festival Orchestra in 2023. As well as helming its annual three-week festival of concerts, Abrams led the orchestra on tour with new works including Pulitzer Prizewinner Caroline Shaw’s Brush, written for their summer 2021 performance on the Jacksonville Woodlands Trail system, and Michael Gordon’s Natural History, whose world premiere performance at the edge of Crater Lake National Park, presented in partnership with the National Park Service, was the subject of the PBS documentary Symphony for Nature
NYO2
Created by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute in summer 2016, NYO2 brings together outstanding young American instrumentalists ages 14–17 for a summer orchestral training program that includes a residency and an exciting concert at Carnegie Hall. Running in conjunction with the summer residency of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA) at Purchase College, State University of New York (SUNY), NYO2 offers an opportunity for younger participants to play alongside exceptionally talented peers and learn from a world-class faculty. With a focus on actively recruiting talented young players from across the country, the program aims to expand the pool of young musicians equipped with the tools to succeed at the highest level, particularly those who come from communities that have been underserved by and underrepresented in the classical music field.
Since its inaugural season, NYO2 has captivated audiences around the world through annual performances at Carnegie Hall; three summers of residencies and performances in Miami Beach in partnership with the New World Symphony; vibrant digital video projects and performances streamed worldwide; and most recently, its first international residency and performances, presented
by Fundación Sinfonía in the Dominican Republic. Over the past eight years, NYO2 has worked with renowned faculty, guest artists, and conductors that include MeiAnn Chen, Giancarlo Guerrero, Jennifer Koh, Gabriela Montero, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Gil Shaham, Esperanza Spalding, and Joseph Young. Described as “… not only a laudable educational project, but highly enjoyable and a lot of fun ... these teenagers had the technical mastery, musicianship, and panache to rival anyone” (New York Classical Review), NYO2 has performed at the New World Center in Miami, Teatro Nacional Eduardo Brito in Santo Domingo, Gran Teatro del Cibao in Santiago, and Carnegie Hall.
NYO2 is one of Carnegie Hall’s three acclaimed national youth ensembles, which also include NYO-USA for outstanding classical musicians ages 16–19, which celebrated its 10th anniversary season last summer; and NYO Jazz for the nation’s finest jazz instrumentalists ages 16–19. Each of these prestigious national programs— free to all participants—is dedicated to the proposition that talented young musicians thrive when given the opportunity to expand their musical, social, and cultural horizons and share their artistry with audiences around the globe.
Titus Underwood Oboe
Titus Underwood is principal oboe of the Nashville Symphony, Gateways Music Festival Orchestra, and co-principal of the Chineke! Orchestra. He is also the Associate Professor of Oboe at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. In addition, he is a faculty artist at the Aspen Music Festival and School, and for Carnegie Hall’s national youth ensembles. A fierce advocate for amplifying voices of the historically underrepresented, he cofounded the Black Orchestral Network (BON) and Sphinx Orchestral Partners
Auditions (SOPA). His personal endeavors in digital media have led to multiple releases, notably the short film A Tale of Two Tails. He has also won a Sphinx Medal of Excellence for his ongoing commitment to leadership and community, and an Emmy Award for his work executive producing We Are Nashville with the Nashville Symphony. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School, Colburn School, and Cleveland Institute of Music. Visit titusunderwood.com to learn more.
Demarre McGill Flute
Winner of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, Demarre McGill has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra; San Francisco, Seattle, and San Diego symphonies; Pittsburgh, Dallas, Winnipeg, Hawaiʻi, Hartford, and Baltimore symphony orchestras, and at age 15, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. McGill has participated in festivals around the globe, cofounded Art of Élan, is a founding member of the Myriad Trio, and has participated in the Marlboro Music Festival, Moab Music Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival.
With clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Michael McHale, Demarre McGill founded the McGill/McHale Trio in 2014, and the trio’s debut recording, Portraits, was released in 2017 to rave reviews. Demarre McGill’s other recordings include Winged Creatures with Anthony McGill and the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. McGill performs, coaches, and presents master classes throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and South Africa. Committed to teaching, he holds the position of Associate Professor of Flute at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, is a member of the artist faculty at the Aspen Music Festival and School, and teaches at the National Orchestral Institute at the University of Maryland.
Now principal flute of the Seattle Symphony, Mr. McGill previously served as principal flute of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Florida Orchestra, and Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, and was acting principal flute of The Met Orchestra and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
A native of Chicago, Mr. McGill studied there with Susan Levitin and continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School with Jeffrey Khaner and Julius Baker.
Demarre McGill is a Yamaha Performing Artist.
Anthony McGill Clarinet
Hailed for his “trademark brilliance, penetrating sound, and rich character” (The New York Times), clarinetist Anthony McGill enjoys a dynamic international solo and chamber music career and is principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic—the first African American principal player in the organization’s history. He is the recipient of the 2020 Avery Fisher Prize, one of classical music’s most significant awards, and was named Musical America’s 2024 Instrumentalist of the Year. American Stories, his album with the Pacifica Quartet, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music / Small Ensemble Performance.
Mr. McGill appears as a soloist with top orchestras, including the New York and Los Angeles philharmonics; the Met Orchestra; and the Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, and Detroit symphony orchestras. He performed alongside Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Gabriela Montero at the inauguration of President Barack Obama, premiering a piece by John Williams. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with the Brentano, Daedalus, Guarneri, JACK, Miró, Shanghai, Takács, and Tokyo quartets, and performs with leading artists that include Emanuel Ax, Inon Barnatan, Gloria Chien, Yefim Bronfman, Gil Shaham, Midori, Mitsuko Uchida, and Lang Lang.
Mr. McGill serves on the faculty of The Juilliard School and is the artistic director for Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program. He holds the William R. and Hyunah Yu Brody Distinguished Chair at the Curtis Institute of Music.
In 2020, Mr. McGill’s #TakeTwoKnees campaign protesting the death of George Floyd and historic racial injustice went viral. In 2023, he partnered with Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative to organize a classical music industry convening at EJI’s Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, in which leaders and artists in classical music examined America’s history of racial inequality and how this legacy continues to influence their work. He is a Backun Artist and performs exclusively on Backun Clarinets.
Andrew Brady Bassoon
Native Tennessean Andrew Brady joined The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in the 2022–2023 season as principal bassoon. He came to Minnesota from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, having served there as principal bassoon since January 2016. Prior to the ASO, he held the same position for two years with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.
As a soloist, Mr. Brady has performed concertos by Hertel, Rossini, Mozart, Weber, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Southeast Symphony, Los Angeles Doctors Symphony Orchestra, and Colburn Orchestra. He appears regularly as principal bassoon with the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra and has performed as guest principal with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, as well as at Carnegie Hall and on European tours with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
Mr. Brady’s artistry is in high demand and has taken him to South Africa, Korea, China, Mexico, and the United Kingdom as well as many destinations within the contiguous United States for both performances and teaching engagements. In past summers, he has been a proud member of the Chineke! Orchestra, and he appeared with the orchestra at the 2017
BBC Proms. The ensemble is the UK’s first Black and ethnically diverse orchestra and seeks to promote diversity and change within classical music by increasing representation and visibility of musicians of color. He is also thrilled to have participated in the Juneteenth: A Global Celebration for Freedom concert with the ReCollective Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl in 2022. The concert was broadcast live on CNN and marked the first performance of an all-Black orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl. The celebration featured such legendary artists as Chaka Khan, The Roots, Michelle Williams, and Earth, Wind & Fire.
Enthusiastically involved in music education, Mr. Brady has taught as an artist in residence at Kennesaw State University and is sought after for master classes and private tutelage. He has also served on the faculties of the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute, Brevard Music Center, Festival Napa Valley, and national youth ensembles at Carnegie Hall.
Mr. Brady graduated with his bachelor’s degree from the Colburn Conservatory of Music in 2013, where he studied with Richard Beene. Other major teachers and influences include Anthony Parnther, Richard Ranti, and Suzanne Nelsen.
