Carnegie Hall's National Youth Orchestra turns 10, training over 1,200 for music careers

• Teen musicians from the National Youth Orchestra of the USA walked onto the Carnegie Hall stage and acted in unison, much like string sections following their leaders: They pulled out cell phones and took selfies. After arriving July 1 for intensive instruction that began the following day at suburban Purchase College, performers gathered at America’s premier concert hall to play for conductor Andrew Davis in a 2,800-seat auditorium filled with many family members and friends. “I learned how the orchestra itself is a living creature,” said Yuri Lee, a 19-year-old violinist from Tuckahoe, New York, who served as an apprentice composer last year.