The El Camino Youth Symphony (ECYS) of Palo Alto, California will be bringing 120 specially selected musicians for its Budapest concert, the ensemble's third appearance in Hungary. This was the first Californian ensemble to be invited to Carnegie Hall (in 1989) to play in its concert series presenting the finest youth symphony orchestras in the United States. The orchestra's standard has increased steadily since then thanks to the role played in its members' training by some of the very best in the profession, including the concertmasters, principals and soloists of the San Francisco and Chicago symphony orchestras and those of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. A number of internationally recognized conductors have stood at its helm, most notably Camilla Kolchinsky, previously head of the Bolshoi Theatre Symphony Orchestra in Moscow, who later served as Zubin Mehta's permanent guest conductor in Israel.
ECYS was founded in 1963 by a forward-looking young conductor named William Gailbraith, whose aim it was to provide talented students with high-quality musical training along with opportunities to appear in concerts, both in the US and abroad, that presented a major challenge for their skills. Today more than 400 young people are receiving first-rate musical training at ECYS's art faculties, which are as highly regarded internationally as they are in the United States. Each year, the very best are selected from the student body to take the podium on the ensemble's traditional international concert tour. The vast majority of the young musicians are also highly capable chamber musicians and soloists.

Presented by: CMI - Concert Masters International, ACFEA Tour Consultants