• Each December, the New York String Orchestra Seminar (NYSOS)—one of the country’s most respected training programs—offers exceptional string, wind, brass, and timpani students 16 to 23 years of age a joyful learning experience. The no-cost program combines orchestral rehearsals, performances presented by Carnegie Hall, and rigorous chamber music exploration, all focused on personal expression and musicianship rather than technical perfection. Injury avoidance workshops help students work in healthy ways during the ten intensive days of the seminar.

    Through chamber music sessions and orchestral rehearsals and performance, the NYSOS introduces students experientially to the philosophy that a great orchestra plays like a great string quartet, and that, as artistic director and conductor Jaime Laredo says, in orchestral playing, “every single person counts.”

    "It was one of the defining moments for me as a teenager. The passion of people your own age is very important; it puts you in touch with a larger world, beyond schooling and everything else you do."

    — Yo-Yo Ma, cellist, participant in the 1971 New York String Orchestra Seminar

  • Accessibility

    The New York String Orchestra Seminar is committed to ensuring accessibility. All seminar housing, rehearsal, and performance venues are ADA compliant. We invite students to request additional required forms of support in their New York String Orchestra Seminar applications.

  • Contact Us

    Rohana Elias-Reyes
    Director, New School Concerts
    55 West 13th Street, room 929
    New York, NY 10011
    [email protected]
    212.229.5873

  • Our Supporters

    Leadership support is provided by the Alexander Schneider Foundation, and the seminar is made possible in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Further support is provided by an anonymous foundation grant and the tax-deductible gifts of many individual donors.
  • Social Media

  • Take The Next Step

Submit your application

Undergraduates

To apply to any of our undergraduate programs (except the Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs) complete and submit the Common App online.

Undergraduate Adult Learners

To apply to any of our Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

Graduates

To apply to any of our Master's, Doctoral, Professional Studies Diploma, and Graduate Certificate programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

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