While the National Youth Orchestra of China plays an essential role in showcasing the country’s rising artistic prowess to audiences around the globe, the orchestra has a similarly crucial function in broadening the music education culture at home. Although nobody can doubt the technical brilliance of so many of China’s emerging young musicians, some rightly point out an overemphasis on training prospective soloists and a lack of appreciation for collaborating within ensembles. Unfortunately, not everyone can become a soloist, and many of those who don’t end up quitting entirely. But by allowing students to perform on the grandest stages in the world alongside some of classical music’s most celebrated artists, NYO-China serves to inspire a whole new generation of Chinese instrumentalists to reconsider playing in an orchestra as something cool - an endeavor worth pursuing in of itself rather than just a backup plan.

An orchestra for all of China.

As its name implies, the National Youth Orchestra of China is a national ensemble, having served 216 students from 26 provinces / administrative divisions of China. While youth orchestras are becoming increasingly popular, cooperation between cities or provinces remains rare. So far, NYO-China stands alone as China’s first and only youth ensemble to be representative of the country’s many different regions.