the Concert Orchestra for outstanding musicians in grades 7 – 10; and the Youth Orchestra, a pre-professional orchestra for grades 9 – 12. Hundreds of aspiring musicians from throughout the Mid-Atlantic region apply each year and go through a rigorous audition process to win seats. The commitment is not a small one; once accepted, the young players rehearse once a week at the George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology in Towson and are expected to practice their orchestral parts at home.
Each ensemble plays three concerts during the season and there are also opportunities for small chamber group performances. The Youth Orchestra repertoire is no different from what might be heard at the Meyerhoff and Strathmore, including selections from the classical canon and new works. In May, for example, the BSYO will perform Holst’ s The Planets at the Meyerhoff.
Hersh, also the co-curator of the BSO’ s Pulse series— which combines classical programming with indie rock— has experience in a wide array
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“ Suddenly something … clicks into place and the kids finally get it … that is an incredible feeling.”
Nicholas Hersh
of genres. He sees value in introducing students to new works.“ I’ m trying to work with repertoire that could be considered a stretch technically,” he says. When confronted with a contemporary composition, young musicians can’ t always turn to a recording to learn melody and pacing, as they might with a piece by Mozart or Bach. This season, the Youth Orchestra learned pieces by Anna Clyne and a folk suite by early 20 th-century Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály, works that“ are cerebral and require virtuosity,” Hersh says.“ As a musician, stepping out of your comfort zone is essential.”
At the same time, the conductor stresses, youth orchestra is about more than playing music.“ The point of playing in an orchestra is much more than learning to play Brahms or Beethoven,” he points out.“ The skills required are really hard to acquire and can only be done by actually playing in an orchestra— at the highest level you can.”
Furthermore, he says,“ These kids come out with a better understanding not only of music but of interpersonal relationships, conflict resolution and cooperation.”
Hersh, who grew up in Evanston, IL, and earned his bachelor’ s at Stanford and his master’ s at Indiana University’ s Jacobs School of Music, began his musical training on the cello. He joined the BSO as assistant conductor in 2014. Along with his work with the BSYO and Pulse, he has conducted the BSO during the subscription season.
Conducting the youngest musicians is not without its trials. There are the competing demands of family, school and extracurricular activities. Hersh says it is a challenge for all educators to instill the discipline, focus and level of priority a youth orchestra requires. But then there are those moments when it all comes together. One was last fall, Hersh recalls, when the string section“ got this perfect sound.” At moments like those, he says,“ suddenly something you’ ve been harping on for a long time clicks into place and the kids finally get it.” For an educator, Hersh says,“ that is an incredible feeling.”
Currently, the BSYO has three ensembles tailored to specific ages and abilities.