Music Camp Promotes Youth Engagement

January 23, 2012

Joel Schut (USA) conducts Youth Orchestra YOA-Michigan-Honduras (State Dept. Photo)

From January 12-20, the U.S. Embassy sponsored a music camp in partnership with the Youth Orchestra of the Americas (YOA) and local Honduran music institutions at the Casa de Pedro retreat center in El Hatillo.  Six YOA musicians representing the United States, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay, were joined by six faculty and five graduate students from Western Michigan University (WMU), who conducted master classes, workshops, and chamber and orchestra rehearsals with 90 young Honduran musicians.  Students from local music schools, including: the National School of Music, the Francisco R. Diaz Zelaya Music Conservatory in Tegucigalpa, and the Victoriano Lopez Music School in San Pedro Sula, along with young musicians from the National Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH), participated in this nine-day music camp that culminated with a gala concert at the Manuel Bonilla National Theater on January 20.  Ambassador Lisa Kubiske gave welcoming remarks and encouraged the young musicians to "continue to strive for excellence  -- in order to inspire your classmates and to serve as a model and as a source of pride for your country." 

The youth orchestra for the First YOA-Michigan-Honduras Music Camp was conducted by YOA and Honduran musicians and included performances by the YOA musicians with their Honduran students.

Please check the concert's flickr gallery: http://www.flickr.com/photos/usembassyteg/sets/72157628998371365/