Led by Artistic Advisor, Plácido Domingo

Plácido Domingo

Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...

, YOA Orchestra of the Americas is a multicultural symphony orchestra of 100 musicians, ages 18 to 30, from more than 20 countries of the Western Hemisphere. Musicians are selected through a rigorous audition process at local, national and international levels. The chosen musicians participate on full scholarship. Each July, the musicians gather for a 2-week residency to participate in master classes and rehearsals of diverse and challenging repertoire in preparation for a 3-week concert tour in multiple countries of the Western Hemisphere, and beyond. More than 1,000 musicians audition for YOA each year; generally around 80 musicians.

YOA Faculty

YOA's faculty includes principals and former principals from top international music institutions including Berlin Philharmonic, Rome Opera Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Stavanger Symphony, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and Costa Rica Symphony, among others.

Mission

The mission of YOA is to bring together energetic, talented musicians to pursue excellence and celebrate cultural diversity as a catalyst for social change.

Vision

YOA's vision is to enable outstanding young musicians from all backgrounds to realize their artistic passion and human potential and become effective ambassadors by bringing the transformational power of orchestral music to diverse audiences.

History

Founded in 2001 by New England Conservatory and Vision, Inc., Youth Orchestra of the Americas (YOA) was inspired by the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela created by José Antonio Abreu

José Antonio Abreu

José Antonio Abreu is a Venezuelan pianist, economist, educator, activist, and politician.-Politics and academics:...

. Since its Inaugural Tour in 2002, YOA has performed over 150 concerts for audiences in the Americas and Europe – in Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, the Holy See, Italy, México, Panamà, Perú, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela. YOA has reached over 10 million people through television & radio broadcasts, CD recordings, print media coverage, and documentary films on the orchestra’s formation, mission and programs. YOA guest artists include Plácido Domingo, Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...

, Lorin Maazel

Lorin Maazel

Lorin Varencove Maazel is an American conductor, violinist and composer.- Early life :Maazel was born to Jewish-American parents in Neuilly-sur-Seine in France and brought up in the United States, primarily at his parents' home in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood. His father, Lincoln Maazel , was...

, Joshua Bell

Joshua Bell

Joshua David Bell is an American Grammy Award-winning violinist.-Childhood:Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, United States, the son of a psychologist and a therapist. Bell's father is the late Alan P...

, Valery Gergiev

Valery Gergiev

Valery Abisalovich Gergiev is a Russian conductor and opera company director. He is general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and artistic director of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg.- Early life :Gergiev,...

, Kent Nagano

Kent Nagano

__FORCETOC__Kent George Nagano is an American conductor and opera administrator. He is currently the music director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the Bavarian State Opera.-Biography:...

, Leonard Slatkin

Leonard Slatkin

Leonard Edward Slatkin is an American conductor and composer.-Early life and education:Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His father Felix Slatkin was the violinist, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet,...

, Gabriela Montero

Gabriela Montero

Gabriela Montero is a Venezuelan-American pianist.Born in Caracas, Venezuela, of an American-born mother and a Venezuelan father, Gabriela Montero was barely a seven-month-old infant when her parents, at the insistence of her maternal grandmother, placed a toy piano in her playpen. It had been...

, Cristina Gallardo-Domâs

Cristina Gallardo-Domâs

Cristina Gallardo-Domâs is a soprano, born in Santiago, Chile, who frequently performs in operas by Puccini.Gallardo-Domâs made her debut as Madama Butterfly in 1990 at the Municipal Theatre in Santiago and, three years later, began performing in opera houses in Europe, making her La Scala debut in...

, Julian Rachlin

Julian Rachlin

Julian Rachlin is a Lithuanian-born violinist and violist.-Background and early life:Born in Vilnius, he emigrated in 1978 with his musician parents to Austria. In 1983, he entered the Konservatorium Wien and studied violin in the Soviet tradition with Boris Kuschnir, while also receiving private...

, Matt Haimovitz

Matt Haimovitz

Matt Haimovitz is an Israeli-born cellist now based in the United States and Canada. He mainly plays a cello made by Matteo Gofriller in 1710.-Family, musical education and early career:...

, Ilya Gringolts, Ildar Abdrazakov, Berenika and Paquito D’Rivera, among others.

Founding Institutions

New England Conservatory

Founded in 1867, New England Conservatory (NEC) instructs more than 800 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral music students from around the world, and has a faculty of 225 artist-teachers and scholars.

Vision, Inc.

Led by Hilda Ochoa-Brillembourg

Hilda Ochoa-Brillembourg

Hilda Ochoa-Brillembourg is a Venezuelan-born business woman and the current president and Chief Executive Officer of Strategic Investment Group which she founded in 1987...

, CEO of Strategic Investment Group, Vision is composed of Latin American leaders from throughout the western hemisphere, including the Director of the Youth & Children’s Orchestra System of Venezuela, José Antonio Abreu.

Status

YOA is a certified non-profit organization incorporated in the United States, Costa Rica, and Venezuela. YOACanada is a certified charitable institution with Canada Revenue Agency.

YOA Artistic Advisory Council

• Martha Argerich
  Martha Argerich
  Martha Argerich is an Argentine pianist.-Early life:Argerich was born in Buenos Aires and started playing the piano at age three...
  
  
• Thomas Clamor
• Paquito D’Rivera
• James Ehnes
  James Ehnes
  James Ehnes, CM is a Canadian concert violinist.The son of Alan Ehnes, trumpet professor at Brandon University and Barbara Ehnes, former director of the Brandon School of Dance, James Ehnes began his violin studies at the age of four...
  
  
• Christoph Eschenbach
  Christoph Eschenbach
  Christoph Eschenbach , born February 20, 1940, Breslau, Germany is a German-born pianist and conductor. He currently holds positions in Washington, D.C. as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra and music director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.-Early...
  
  
• Nelson Freire
  Nelson Freire
  Nelson Freire is a Brazilian classical pianist.Freire began playing the piano when he was three years old. He replayed from memory pieces his older sister had just performed. His teachers in Brazil were Nise Obino and Lucia Branco, former students of a pupil of Liszt. For his first public recital,...
  
  
• Philip Glass
  Philip Glass
  Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
  
  
• Maria Guinand
  Maria Guinand
  Maria Guinand is an internationally renowned choral conductor.María Guinand received her bachelor's and master's degrees in music from the University of Bristol, England in 1976 and 1982, respectively...
  
  
• Miguel Harth-Bedoya
  Miguel Harth-Bedoya
  Miguel Harth-Bedoya is a Peruvian conductor, currently Music Director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra , a position he has held since 2000.He was born in Lima, Peru...
  
  
• Alex Klein
  Alex Klein
  Alex Klein is an oboist who began his musical studies in his native Brazil at the age of nine, and made his solo orchestral debut the following year. At the age of eleven he was invited to join the Camerata Antigua, one of Brazil's foremost chamber ensembles...
  
  
• Yo-Yo Ma
  Yo-Yo Ma
  Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...
  
  
• Roberto Minczuk
• Gabriela Montero
  Gabriela Montero
  Gabriela Montero is a Venezuelan-American pianist.Born in Caracas, Venezuela, of an American-born mother and a Venezuelan father, Gabriela Montero was barely a seven-month-old infant when her parents, at the insistence of her maternal grandmother, placed a toy piano in her playpen. It had been...
  
  
• Ennio Morricone
  Ennio Morricone
  Ennio Morricone, Grand Officer OMRI, , is an Italian composer and conductor, who wrote music to more than 500 motion pictures and television series, in a career lasting over 50 years. His scores have been included in over 20 award-winning films as well as several symphonic and choral pieces...
  
  
• Cristina Ortiz
  Cristina Ortiz
  -Biography:Born in Bahia, Brazil, Cristina Ortiz began her studies in her home country before moving to France with Magda Tagliaferro. Soon after finishing her studies in Paris, she won the first prize of the third edition of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition...
  
  
• Helmuth Rilling
  Helmuth Rilling
  Helmuth Rilling is an internationally known German choral conductor, founder of the Gächinger Kantorei , the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart , the Oregon Bach Festival , the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart and other Bach Academies worldwide, and the "Festival Ensemble Stuttgart"...
  
  
• Leonard Slatkin
  Leonard Slatkin
  Leonard Edward Slatkin is an American conductor and composer.-Early life and education:Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His father Felix Slatkin was the violinist, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet,...
  
  
• Leon Spierer
• Emmanuel Villaume
  Emmanuel Villaume
  Emmanuel Villaume is an internationally recognized orchestra conductor. He is Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and Chief Conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra in Bratislava....
  
  
• Benjamin Zander
  Benjamin Zander
  Benjamin Zander is an American conductor from the United Kingdom.-External links:* *-Interviews:* * * *...
  
  
• David Zinman
  David Zinman
  David Zinman is an American conductor and violinist.After early violin studies at the Oberlin Conservatory, Zinman studied theory and composition at the University of Minnesota and took up conducting at Tanglewood...
  
  

YOA Composers in Residence / Work Premiers

• Philip Glass
  Philip Glass
  Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
  
  
• Paul McCartney
  Paul McCartney
  Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
  
  
• Marlos Nobre
  Marlos Nobre
  Marlos Nobre is a Brazilian composer. He has received commissions from numerous institutions, including the Ministry of Culture in Spain, the Free University of Music of São Paulo, the Neuchâtel Chamber Orchestra in Switzerland, The Apollon Foundation in Bremen, Germany and the Maracaibo Music...
  
  
• John Estacio
  John Estacio
  John Estacio is a contemporary Canadian composer.-Life and career:Estacio was born in Newmarket, Ontario. Raised in the farming community of the Holland Marsh, Ontario, Estacio took piano and accordion lessons, and played church organ every Sunday...
  
  

YOA Leadership Council

• The Hon. Madeleine K. Albright
• Mr. & Mrs. Oswaldo Cisneros
• Paulo Coelho
  Paulo Coelho
  Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist.-Biography:Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He attended a Jesuit school. As a teenager, Coelho wanted to become a writer. Upon telling his mother this, she responded with "My dear, your father is an engineer. He's a logical,...
  
  
• Mario Vargas Llosa
  Mario Vargas Llosa
  Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquis of Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian-Spanish writer, politician, journalist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading authors of his generation...
  
  
• David Rockefeller, Jr.
  David Rockefeller, Jr.
  David Rockefeller Jr. is an American philanthropist and an active participant in nonprofit and environmental areas. The eldest son of Margaret "Peggy" McGrath and David Rockefeller, he is a leading fourth-generation member of the prominent Rockefeller family, serving on many boards of the...
  
  
• League of American Orchestras
  League of American Orchestras
  The League of American Orchestras, known until Fall 2007 as the American Symphony Orchestra League , is an association of U.S. and Canadian orchestras. Over 950 orchestras are members, including youth, community, and professional orchestras....
  
  
• The Americas Society
• Organization of American States
  Organization of American States
  The Organization of American States is a regional international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States...
  
  
• Venezuela sin limites

Notable alumni

• Alexander Bedenko (USA) - Principal Clarinet of London Symphony Orchestra
• Gustavo Dudamel (Venezuela) - Music Director of Los Angeles Philharmonic
• Alexis Cardenas (Venezuela) - Founder of Ensemble Gurrufío
• José Franch Ballester (Spain) - Avery Fisher Career Prize Winner
• Isaac Casal (Panama) - Founder of ASM Festival de Musica de Panama
• Darwin Aquino (Dominican Republic) - Principal Conductor of National Youth Orchestra of the Dominican Republic
• Deborah Wanderley dos Santos (Brazil) - Founder of YOURS Chicago
• Guillermo Marin (Colombia) - 2010 Ibero-American Clarinetist of the Year
• Carrie Bean (USA) - Member of Apollo's Fire Baroque Orchestra
• Nicolas Giordano (Uruguay) - Founder of Sembrando Talentos Uruguay
• Marcial Flores (Costa Rica) - Frequently performs with Ruben Blades
• Amie Weiss (USA) - Frequently performs with singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens
• Mary-Elisabeth Brown (Canada) - Co-Concertmaster of Orchestra London