This summer, Florida Symphony Youth Orchestras embarked on our week-long Summer Tour of 2018. Our Symphonic Orchestra was invited to play at Carnegie Hall, in New York City, and the Sottile Theatre at the College of Charleston. This year's Summer Tour consisted of traveling to Charleston, South Carolina, Washington D.C., and New York City, New York in one week and all by bus.
FSYO having a barrel of fun! Enjoying a nice brunch break on our way to Charleston.
On June 18, our students met us at our office to load the busses that they would call home for the next week while we traveled the East Coast. Our first day of travel we set off to Charleston, South Carolina for a fun night on their City Market and a ghost tour in the city. Day two was our first concert performance at the Sottile Theatre. During the day, we spoke with Dr. Edward Hart, Chair of the Department of Music and received a tour of the Department of Music.
Once we finished the tour, several students wanted to perform around town and raise awareness for our concert that night. Those students learned how to sell their performance, experienced the hard work that goes into getting people to attend, and had a blast doing what they love, playing music. While this performance didn't have the live attendance we would have liked, we had our biggest online attendance at just over 4.3K views!
Day three was a full day of travel into Washington D.C. We passed Richmond, Virginia's capital, and stopped nearby for some quick lunch. By the time we made it into the city, it was almost dark, and we were tired enough that we just turned in for the night.
The next morning, we bussed into the city and spent the whole day visiting different museums and monuments on the National Mall! We all met up at the Lincoln Memorial that afternoon and then went to the Arlington National Cemetery. There we witnessed the incredible Changing of the Guard ceremony and saw the Eternal Flame memorial at Former President Kennedy's gravesite. For dinner, we were treated to the best chicken in the city by Nando's Per-Peri Chicken!
Our last stop took us to New York City which started with a final rehearsal before visiting an authentic New York pizza joint for a late-night slice. We then made our way to Times Square, just a short walk from our hotel, to experience the sights and sounds of the city that never sleeps. On the way back, we made a stop at the giant M&M store to get our fill of sugar before heading to bed.
On Saturday, everyone woke up early to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art as soon as it opened. This museum hosts thousands of incredible and varied art pieces, including original dresses from designers like Valentino and Alexander McQueen, Claude Monet's Water Lilies, and an entire ancient Egyptian temple! After enjoying all that the museum had to offer, we split into groups--some went towards Ground Zero, others went to Brooklyn Bridge, and still more took a stroll through Central Park. That night, we regrouped and dressed to the nines to see a performance of Swan Lake by the American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House. Everyone agreed that it was breathtaking, though we
might have appreciated the orchestra even more than the dancers!
Finally, the day of the big performance arrived! We rehearsed briefly on stage at Carnegie Hall before breaking for lunch in Central Park and returning to get into concert dress.
"The concert itself was a whirl it only felt like moments before we were being led offstage, just having performed the concert of a lifetime! It was a life-changing experience, and we were all so thrilled to have taken part in this event." – Emily Schenck, FSYO Alumna
After the performance, we went to Rosie O'Grady's for a fantastic dinner. Nobody wanted to turn in after dinner, so we split into groups and explored the city once more. Even though it was a late night, it was filled with excitement and adventure.
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