New National Youth Orchestra Coming to Purchase

Carnegie Hall is establishing a new national youth orchestra—and the musical group will get its start on the campus in the summer of 2013.

Before embarking on a performance schedule that is to include the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, followed by destinations in Russia and England, the newly formed National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America will come together on the campus for an intense two-week training period, Carnegie Hall announced this week.

The orchestra will consist of the nation's top 200 student performers aged 16-19. Those selected for the first youth orchestra will have a residency on the campus in the summer of 2013 in late June and early July, Carnegie Hall announced.

Before leaving town, the orchestra will perform at the Purchase Performing Arts Center.

Although national youth orchestras already exist in many other countries, it will be the only one in the United States, according to the New York Times.

A different conductor will lead the orchestra each year, starting with Valery Gergiev in 2013, according to the Huffington Post.

Despite being a product of Carnegie Hall, the group actually will not perform at the legendary venue until 2014 because of construction, the Times reported.