Asian Youth Orchestra World Tour : US East Coast

Dear AYO Friends,

As I write this report from Rovato Italy, just hours after our arrival from New York, it’s hard to believe what we've achieved since my last report from the US West Coast.

First stop, Washington DC, and the colonial offices of the Hong Kong Government Economic and Trade Office. What an impressive setting for Hong Kong Commissioner Clement Leung to formally introduce the Asian Youth Orchestra to the Washington diplomatic corps. So glad that AYO Board Chairman Jim Thompson could be with us!

Second night out, the Asian Youth Orchestra’s concert in the stunning Wolf Trap Performing Arts Center, a venue that accommodates as many as 7,000 concertgoers, some seated close to the Orchestra, others taking up lawn seating stretching far into the night, AYO’s Don Juan and Beethoven 7 winning standing ovation after standing ovation, the headline in the Washington Post review reading, “Asian Youth Orchestra performs with precision,” the reviewer giving special mention to the “diaphanous clarinet and oboe soloists” in Don Juan, the musicians as a whole "moving with well-drilled unity in the fanfare-like statements of the main theme, brilliant horns representing the dashing hero.”

"Pontzious’ old-school interpretation of Beethoven’s seventh symphony was enjoyable in the slower tempo choices and broad style. The musicians responded with a performance that felt dutiful and deliberate in the first movement. The slow movement did not plod, and the third movement was a pleasing combination of playful scherzo and leisurely trio. Not pushing the finale’s tempo to extremes gave crisp definition to the frenetic main theme.”

Third-day out and we’re on the road again, a 10-hour bus ride from DC to the Brevard Music Center, a gentle mist welcoming us to this North Carolina rainforest and its scattered collection of cabins and bungalows. Ten minutes away on the fourth East Coast day we settle in for yet another sellout concert, this one  played in an elegant colonial style concert hall, Porter Center. What a beautiful stage, with excellent acoustics, and such a great audience, again showing their appreciation with standing ovations for our soloist Sarah Chang and the Asian Youth Orchestra.

Day five and the question of the day, “Will our caravan of three buses ever get to our hotel in New York?” 15 hours later and we have the answer. What a ride, and what a welcome feeling to put head to pillow that night.

Day six and our final US concert of our world tour, once again our AYO musicians are performing to standing ovations, this time in the 2000-seat Tilles Center for the Performing Arts in Long Island. A major thanks to the New York Director Joanne Chu and her team from the HK Economic and Trade Office for supporting AYO’s New York concert.

Exactly one week from our arrival in Washington DC we board the flights that will take us across the Atlantic for three weeks of concerts in Europe. Once again the long bus rides, the late hours and the demands of performance have left us  exhausted but thrilled to be making great music and headlines for Hong Kong. Among those headlines are these from the Daily Californian:

"Asian Youth Orchestra educates, exhilarates at Zellerbach Hall”

“The drive of a professional symphony orchestra and a good-natured excitement that reflected the youth of the players.

The Asian Youth Orchestra's "list of accomplishments is built almost singlehandedly by the program’s intense dedication to education above all else, a factor that especially shone through in Saturday night’s performance.”

"Pontzious would often point at a specific musician, four or five chairs behind the first, and physically summon more fervor from them before turning to a different section and conducting only those musicians for the next couple of bars. It wasn’t before long that the audience realized it wasn’t just watching a performance on stage, it was watching a workshop — an educational experience in literal motion.”

More to come. Ciao.

Keith

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