(Updated at 1:30 p.m.) When Henry Price first picked up a trombone in fourth grade, he could only imagine a summer touring Europe as one of the 22 brightest young jazz musicians in the United States.
The 17-year-old Barcroft resident will return to Washington-Liberty High School this fall with a summer’s worth of top-tier musical experience under his belt.
NYO Jazz — Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra — is a prestigious program set to recognize young, musical minds as the future of jazz on an international scale.
The program kicks off with a two-week training residency in New York City, followed by an NYO Jazz performance at Carnegie Hall on July 25. Trumpeter Sean Jones will lead the concerts and Grammy-winning vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater will be featured as a musical guest.
Following the Carnegie show, participants of the program will abruptly begin their NYO Jazz Europe summer tour, as the team arrives in St. Moritz, Switzerland just three days later (July 28) to play their first international show.
According to the website, “The musicians serve as dynamic music ambassadors as they share this uniquely American genre with audiences around the globe.”
After facing rejection from the 2021 program, Price decided to apply for last year’s NYO session — held within the United States rather than abroad. He was accepted to both the jazz and classical groups but ultimately chose jazz.
“Jazz is more comfortable for me,” Price said in a brief interview with ARLnow. “It’s more social, and more reckless — in a good way.”
Sean Jones led the youth jazz program through the country last summer, and Price says he feels incredibly lucky to be going on tour with such a prominent musical figure and mentor — one who consistently dedicates time to the musical progression of jazz in teenagers.
Price did not think twice when it came time to re-audition for the 2023 European tour.
“Everyone wants to re-audition,” he said. “I haven’t met a person [in the program] that hasn’t had a life-changing experience.”
This year’s young musicians will have the opportunity to perform at world-renowned events and concert halls such as the BBC Proms in London, St. Moritz Jazz Festival, Lucerne Festival and Rheingau Musik Festival in Germany. Shows in Berlin and Amsterdam are also included in the tour.
Now, after touring with Carnegie twice, Price understands that this opportunity is just the beginning.
Tickets as well as the full schedule are available here.