admin, Author at The Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York

Days 1 and 2 (July 10 – 11)

Hello! I’m Dash Alschuler-Pierce, an incoming Freshman at Williams College, and am part of the MYO France Tour Choir, and I’ll be writing the Tour Blog.

After a year of deposits and anticipation and a five-day music bootcamp, we finally were ready to leave for France.

We each arrived at the airport

After a night of French sirens (and, at least for me, an angry French breakup outside my window), the musicians woke up. The day started with our early wakes—if you couldn’t sleep, I’m sure you heard the wave of 7:00 alarms throughout the halls. Stepping into the 1st floor buffet-style breakfast were hungry, jetlagged

Day 4 (July 13)

We awoke, repeating the first few paragraphs of the previous day. Thus, after eating, we met up with our groups—Anthea, again, standing on the steps, ready with a Marc Antony opening soliloquy. We readied ourselves for the bus to ritzy Monaco—half the girls in pretty dresses akin to our figments of the Monégasque style.

Day 5 (July 14)

I’m sure you can’t guess how we began our day! That was a joke—I’m sure you can. Alarms, elevators, croissants. HOWEVER, that would be our last of our Niçoise mornings, for today, we left for Cannes and later, Aix-en-Provence.

We arrived in Cannes along with 5000 ‘cruisers’ awaiting an unlikely spotting of George

Day 6 (July 15)

Now halfway through our trip, the musicians started with a breakfast buffet at the new hotel, Le Roi René. I later searched who it was named after, for ‘Roi’ means ‘King.’ There was no King René. Of France! However, there was a King René of Naples in the 13th century—of whom oft vacationed in

Day 7 (July 16)

That last, absolutely chaotic, exhausting day, was followed by today: Beach Day! Soon after breakfast, we journeyed to the beach village of Cassis. Our driver, Carmine, took us along the scenic route, allowing us views of the altering vineyards along different heights—something somewhat reflective of Incan terrace farming.

As we arrived, we took

Day 8 (July 17)

Our day really began with the trip to Avignon, a medieval city along the Rhône. Avignon, prior to 1309, was nothing. It was the Church that created the city as Pope Clement V moved the papacy from Rome to Avignon. Lasting for 68 years, the situation was known as Babylonian Captivity, and the 40

Day 9 (July 18)

Today was a day of travel. Leaving Aix-en-Provence, we headed to our penultimate destination and hotel. We gradually edged away from the water, although we traded that privilege for the Alps. However, eventually, as we approached Lyon, its three rivers appeared: the Saône, the Rhône, and, its pride and joy, the Beaujolais. Whilst the

Day 10 (July 19)

Today was Lyon day! We started with a flat tire. It sucked. However, that is travel! It was really fantastic watching the adults get into survival-mode—everyone running around, y’know. It’s a type of competency that is oft rare.

Lyon was magical. It has this Parisian aspect to it: mixes of medieval, neo-byzantine, Belle

Day 11 (July 20)

We left Lyon for Annecy in the morning. It’s actual, well-done, Instagram meat. It’s what Disneyland wants to be but can’t. Sitting on a lake, shadowed by mountains, and overlooked by a castle, Annecy is absolutely stunning. To enjoy a percentage of its glories is a feat of strength, for its sheer dominance ignores

Day 12 (July 21)

There’s a short story called “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, in which, (spoiler alert) the lottery is death. Today, we won a lottery. Despite being in Chamonix for a mere two days, we won the lottery—the rain lottery. Consequently, our cable car ride was canceled; we don’t want a Shirley Jackson-Lottery on our hands.

Day 13 (July 22)

I woke with everyone else this morning: stolen from dreams and infinite time to our inevitable departure. I wolfed down a croissant and packed and left for our last bus. Along the way to the airport, we played games, sang along to Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso before it turned to weird French party music, and

West Babylon Student Performs At Carnegie Hall

Published: June 13, 2024 at LIMG

West Babylon Senior High School junior Grace Rossi was recently selected to perform at Carnegie Hall as part of the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York. Rossi was chosen as part of the principal orchestra following her audition. This is her third year performing with the

The Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York connects with Ukraine through music

Published: March 5, 2024 at The Island 360

The Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York will perform a program highlighting American democracy while forging connections with Ukraine through music.

On Sunday, March 17, at 2 p.m., members of the

MYO celebrates 30th Anniversary with 800 young musicians at Carnegie Hall

Published: May 3, 2023 at The Island 360

The Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York is celebrating its 30th Anniversary by presenting all 15 of our Choirs and Orchestras in concert this Sunday, May 7 at 12:30 PM and 7:30

Seaford student sings in Italy

Published: July 27, 2022 at the liherald.com By: Michael Malaszczyk

The Metropolitan Youth Orchestra recently selected a number of chorus students from Long Island for a two-week singing tour in Italy, from July 6-19, with the Vatican being the final stop. One of those lucky students

2024-2025 MYO Season

MYO Ensembles perform at Carnegie Hall Sunday, May 18, 2025
Additional MYO performances at Radio City Music Hall and Barclays Center
Annual Concerto and Vocal Competition
One Singular Sunday, Free for Singers in Grades 4 – 12
MYO Alumni Reunion

Introduction and Rehearsal Week

Introduction and Rehearsal Week (June 27-July 1)

Ciao a tutti! It is my pleasure to welcome you to the official MYO 2022 Italy tour blog! My name is Aviv, I am a tenor in this year’s tour choir, and I will be your storyteller and narrator for this epic account of our two-week-long

Day 1 (July 6)

At 8:45 AM, breakfast was over and we were asked to meet in our chaperone groups in the lobby. During this meetup, we sang a beautiful rendition of Happy Birthday to Molly Perrone who turned 18 today! After everyone was definitely present, we boarded the buses.

The time has come, ladies and

Day 2 (July 7)

Back for more, are you? Good, because the show is just getting started. Today is our first day of sightseeing in the Italian regions of Lombardy and Liguria.

Upon landing in Milan, we successfully reclaimed our baggage and met up with our two tour managers in the arrivals hall. The orchestra would

Day 3 (July 8)

And so, our adventures continue! Morning broke early today in Santa Margherita, but many of us chose to sleep in as much as we could. I managed to catch a quick breakfast ten minutes before our 8:00 meeting time in the lobby of the hotel. Once there, we got a chance to

Day 4 (July 9)

Good morning! Well, it’s actually almost midnight the next day as I write this, but we’ll pretend it’s still the morning so I can have my fun. So, good morning, and welcome back! Today was another of our long travel days as we proceeded to Tuscany and our next hotel in Montecatini

Day 5 (July 10)

Benvenuti once again! I cannot wait to tell you all about the wonderful things we did today, so let me waste no time. Today, we visited Florence, the capital of the Tuscany region and one of the principal artistic and cultural centers of Italy. And not only did we get to experience

Day 6 (July 11)

Man, it felt good to wake up on time this morning! I purposefully started setting my alarm ringtones to the loudest EDM tracks I could find with the goal of never missing another call time again. Let’s see if I can keep that up throughout the rest of the tour. Anyway, now

Day 7 (July 12)

Welcome back to the action! The next two days of the tour are going to be far more relaxed than the past few, with no concerts until later in the week and lots of travel time. But that is not to say that they won’t offer the same wonderful experiences, breathtaking sights,