Trumpeters part of youth orchestra tour
Haldane junior George Leiter and eighth-grader Walter Hoess are headed to China in July as part of a 10-day Children’s Orchestra Society tour. The orchestra will play with the Shanghai Youth Orchestra at Shanghai Symphony Hall and also perform in Hangzhou and Ningbo.
Greg Smith, a professional musician who volunteers at Haldane, heard that the orchestra’s founder and director, Yeou-Cheng Ma (a sister of Yo-Yo Ma), needed trumpet players for the tour. He recommended Leiter and Hoess, who impressed Ma in auditions. Founded in 1962, the orchestra is a nonprofit dedicated to “teaching the language of music” to children and teens.