For youths from Afghan music school, NY is pizza, ice skating – and playing at Carnegie Hall
Posted Feb 12, 2013 02:34:18 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SCARSDALE, N.Y. – It’s the perfect trip to America. A group of youngsters from Afghanistan is going ice skating, downing New York pizza — and performing at Carnegie Hall.
The Afghan Youth Orchestra is on the New York leg of a U.S. tour. Many of its members are not far removed from eking out a living on the streets of Kabul.
The orchestra held a joint rehearsal Monday with the Scarsdale High School orchestra. That meant that young musicians from a war-torn country where music was banned for several years were playing alongside those from one of New York’s toniest suburbs.
The orchestra’s leader says the co-operation is symbolic of Afghanistan’s future.
On Tuesday’s program at Carnegie are Western classics like Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” but incorporating Afghan instruments and rhythms.
