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Youth Orchestra Wins First Grammy for Album Recorded During Pandemic

New York Youth Symphony

A Tempo this Saturday (2/4 at 7 pm) checks in with the New York Youth Symphony, which was nominated for a Grammy this year in the Best Orchestral Recording category.

(Updated with details of the symphony's Grammy win).

When the New York Youth Symphony began working on an its first-ever album at the height of the pandemic, its Music Director Michael Repper said to them, only half-jokingly, "Let's go get a Grammy." That album, recorded over several days with different groups of musicians playing under strict Covid protocols, won a Grammy Award this weekend, vying with the likes of the Berlin Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic in the Best Orchestral Recording category - the first time a youth symphony has been nominated and won in that category. A Tempo host Rachel Katz this week speaks with Repper, NYYS Executive Director Shauna Quill and principal clarinetist Joshua Choi, now a student at Juilliard, about the experience and the significance of both the nomination and the album itself.

Rachel Katz is the host of A Tempo which airs Saturdays at 7 pm.