Joseph Aranha

New York – The Avery Fisher Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York was filled to capacity and the crowd had turned out to pay tribute to the “Youth Orchestra of the Chinese Youth Corps of New York”.
This group of youngsters with the youngest being 10 and the oldest 21, have vowed crowds not only in America but also in other parts of the world. Founded in 1996 this group is dedicated to performing orchestral repertoire from both the East and West. At the Lincoln Center they performed pieces from a Rondo of Mountain Songs, Whispering Hope and Dreaming by the Stream and also pieces from Raiders March of Indiana Jones fame, selections from West Side Story and Highlights from Wicked.
Jeffrey Liang who is the music director and conductor of the orchestra since 1999 has led the orchestra in successful performances around the world. The other instructors for the orchestra are Christopher Chung for strings, Winnie Lai and Kenneth Chia for winds, Chi-Ching Lin for percussion and Joyce Lin for chamber music. Members of this faculty have graduated from prestigious institutions as Yale University, The Juilliard School and Indiana University.
Among their many prestigious performances one of their highlights of this orchestra has been when they performed in Vienna, Salzburg and Prague as part of the music festival in celebration of Mozart’s 250th birthday.
Outstanding among the musicians was Joyce Chu, a seventh grader who excelled on the clarinet.
But the one who stole the show was Chi-Ching Grace Lin, a percussion soloist and member of the faculty. Grace Lin who is originally from Taiwan didn’t really need the orchestra as she was literally a one-woman-band by herself. She demonstrated her skill on 19 different types of instruments from the marimba from Brazil, to the bongos from Africa, to many different types of cymbals from China and everything in between. Grace Lin is active as an orchestral, chamber and soloist and has exhibited her expertise in some of the most prestigious forums of the music world
The orchestra was also accompanied by members of the Taiwan Center Chorus and the Tenafly Singers who belonged to the older age groups and some were even seniors. But they all had a passion for singing and their enthusiasm has not only led them to sing in various forums but also in many languages. The Taiwan Center Chorus’s conductor is Ping-Heng Chen and the conductor for the Tenafly Singers is Minchen Chien. The Hon President of the Taiwan Center Chorus, who also took part in the performance, is Jamy Liu, the mother of Hon Council Member of Queens, John Liu. John Liu had introduced the chorus to the gathering at the Avery Fisher Hall that evening. Both the orchestra and the singers are also involved in local community services and perform in community centers and nursing homes and are always on the lookout for budding musicians and singers.
Ms Patsy Fang Chen the President of the Taiwanese American Association of New York and Ms Rosalind Y C Chia, its Executive Director who had organized the performance at the Lincoln Center have to be congratulated in putting together a very memorable evening.