In June 2024, President XI Jinping wrote in his congratulatory letter to the “Bond with Kuliang” 2024 China-U.S. Youth Festival, “Youth is full of vigour and dreams. The future of Sino-U.S. relations lies in youth.” The National Youth Orchestra of the United States (NYO-USA), which visited the NCPA in 2015 and 2018, is an important messenger for youth exchanges between China and the United States.

Founded by the Carnegie Hall, New York, the NYO-USA calls outstanding young American together every summer to perform on the world’s leading music stages. On the night of July 30^th, this youthful orchestra appeared on the NCPA stage for a third time. Under Maestro Gianandrea Noseda’ baton, the NYO-USA joined hands with violinist Ray Chen, in giving a wonderful concert, putting a successful end to the “Roam about the Classics 2025” and also opening a new chapter in Sino-U.S. cultural exchanges. “Music knows no border while culture serves as a bridge”.


The concert began with Festival Fanfare and Overture, a new work by contemporary composer Carlos Simon. The piece is inspired by master musician Shostakovich’s classic Festive Overture, composed with ingenious techniques in homage to Shostakovich, who has been dead for 50 years. The NYO-USA, with its members in their signature red pants, shows their consummate skills and perfect mastery of contemporary music in this work.

Violinist Ray Chen worked with the orchestra in interpreting Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor, a classic in music history. This masterpiece, known as one of the “Four Great Violin Concertos”, demonstrates how capable Mendelssohn was of maintaining a balance between the rigorous classical structure and touching romantic lyricism. The work abounds in passionate feelings, extraordinary skills and exquisite instrumental dialogues. As a piece in violinist Ray Chen’s repertoire, this work has played an important role at many important moments of his career. That night, the impressed the audience deeply by giving a superb rendition of the cadenza, interpreting the andante as if it were a song, and rendering the allegro at very fast pace. The young performers from the NYO-USA acted in perfect unison under Noseda’s baton, receiving enthusiastic applause from the audience. At last, Ray Chen gave two encores - Ysaye’s Violin Sonata No. 2 - I. and Bach’s Partita No. 3 in E Major - “Gavotte en Rondeau”.

At the second half of the concert, the NYO-USA presented Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 in E Minor. The composer’s preference for long melodies and sublime lyricism is amply visible in this work. Under the young musicians’ wholehearted performance, the symphony unfolded as a seamless whole—from the profound and expansive opening to the fierce, playful scherzo of the second movement, the achingly tender and song-like Adagio, and finally the majestic, triumphant finale. The soul-stirring beauty of the work moved every listener in the hall.

Amidst warm applause and cheers, conductor Noseda raised his baton over the orchestra to give two encores - Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana - “Intermezzo” and Trepak from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. One sounded statically graceful, the other dynamically beautiful, putting a perfect end to this wonderful summer night adorned with musical notes.

It is worth mentioning that, before the concert began, the young artists of the NYO-USA appeared exhilaratingly in the public space of the NCPA, where they “improvised” on multiple styles of music in rapt attention and interacted cordially with the audience, making the small public space a sea of joy.

On July 30^th, the NCPA and Carnegie Hall held a ceremony for renewal of their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Strategic Cooperation at the Beijing Performing Arts Centre. WANG Ning, President of the NCPA, and Sir Clive Gillinson, Executive and Artistic Director of the Carnegie Hall, signed the MoU on the spot. The two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on how to deepen exchanges and cooperation in many more areas. Both sides agree that the renewal of the MoU on strategic cooperation will help to further deepen their cooperation, so as to effectively promote Sino-U.S. cultural exchanges, as well as the development of the culture, art and music education worldwide. On July 31^st, the NYO-USA rehearsed with young musicians from the China NCPA Orchestra and visited the Beijing Performing Arts Centre.