Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America is a yearly program that brings together young musicians from all over the country, including one young violinist from Idaho Falls.
Claire Yoo is a junior at Idaho Falls High School who has been playing violin since she was 5 years old.
“I saw a video of Julliard Prep School students when I was around 4 years old,” Yoo said. “I was watching these kids who at that point were my age or just a little bit older than me and they were playing and I was like ‘I have to do that. That’s the coolest thing ever.’”
She asked her mom to play the violin, but her mother was hesitant because she was so young. Once Yoo was able to prove to her mom this is what she wanted to do she got started on learning instruments.
“So, she started me on the piano first before I transitioned to the violin, but I came up to her after about two weeks of learning piano and I was like, ‘Mom, I want to be in an orchestra. I want to play with other people and I don’t think I can do that while playing the piano,’” Yoo said.
She is excited to be able to perform with NYO-USA this summer. She first heard of the program through some of her friends who had participated in the past and she had decided to check some videos out.
“I was like, ‘This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!’ Because they sounded really good, obviously they're like the best musicians in the country and I just wanted to try it out,” Yoo said. “I wasn’t really confident that I would get accepted, but I worked super hard on my application and when I got the email saying I got in it was like the best day of my life.”
She is excited to be able to play at Carnegie Hall specifically.
“I get to go on stage and play in basically a hall that represents American Classical Music,” Yoo said.
The concert is on July 29, 2022 at 8 p.m. at Carnegie Hall in New York.