Two Chicago-area teenagers will perform on some of the world’s biggest stages this summer after being selected for the 2025 National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America, a prestigious program run by Carnegie Hall.
Paloma Furst Chavira, 16, a violinist from Park Forest, and Elyse Schlesinger, 18, a horn player from Hoffman Estates, were the only two musicians from Illinois chosen for this year’s ensemble.
“I am incredibly excited — it’s such an honor to have this experience,” Furst Chavira said. “Getting to go on tour and perform at Carnegie Hall is a dream come true.”
Each year, nearly 1,000 young musicians audition for the National Youth Orchestra, submitting video recordings showcasing their technical skill and ability to interpret music.
“I had heard from so many people that this is the ensemble to do in high school, and if you can get in, it’s amazing,” Schlesinger said. “Getting to play with such talented musicians is just so exciting.”
The selection committee spends months reviewing applications, evaluating musical excellence as well as how each musician’s talents contribute to the overall ensemble. This year, 96 musicians from ages 16 through 19 were selected from across the country.
“We’re certainly listening initially for quality as a musician — both technically, how well they command their instrument and their skillset to play challenging repertoire,” Douglas Beck, Carnegie Hall’s director of artist training programs, told the Chicago Sun-Times. “But we’re also interested in each young person’s individual musical voice. Are they able to communicate through their instrument in a way that’s compelling? When you hear that, it’s extra exciting.”
Furst Chavira, who has played the violin since she was 3, spent countless hours practicing, particularly focusing on orchestral excerpts outside her usual solo repertoire. She also spent time listening to master classes to refine her technique.
“NYO has been a big dream for me,” she said. “Since this was my first year qualifying, I decided to put my all into it.”
“When I received my acceptance email I had to reread it like five times because I didn’t think I was understanding it right,” she said. “I was absolutely stunned — it was crazy.”
As the first musician in her family, she said she has come to love music for the way it allows her to express emotion and connect with an audience. Though she has time to decide on a career, she envisions a future in music.
“I don’t even know exactly what I want to do yet,” she said. “But I know I want to keep playing the violin and being part of an orchestra.”
Schlesinger’s parents are musicians and helped lead her to the horn in fifth grade. Her father, Matthew Schlesinger, is the choir director at Hoffman Estates High School and has performed with prominent choruses in Chicago. Her mom, Melissa Schlesinger, is the managing director of the Palatine Children’s Chorus.
“They knew horn was an instrument that’s always needed in ensembles,” she said. “Then I played it, and it just went really well.”
Her love for the instrument solidified when she first heard “Ein Heldenleben,” a tone poem by Richard Strauss.
“When I listened to the horn in ‘Ein Heldenleben,’ I knew it was the right instrument for me,” she said. “There was something about listening to the horn in that piece that I knew I wanted to play.”
She was in an orchestra rehearsal when she received her acceptance.
“My mom texted me to check my email, and I started crying when I found out,” she said. “It was great to be surrounded by musicians at that moment.”
Schlesinger plans to pursue a career in horn performance, with aspirations of playing principal horn in a major orchestra like the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
“I love playing principal horn, and getting to do that anywhere would be incredible,” she said. “The horn has such a distinct sound — it’s always got its own lines, and so much orchestral music features incredible horn solos.”
The National Youth Orchestra will spend two weeks in New York training with top professional musicians before performing at Carnegie Hall on July 20. Then, the orchestra will embark on a six-city tour of Asia, performing in Tokyo, Osaka, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Seoul.
“We try to move our tour to different parts of the world each year. Last summer, we toured South America with stops in Brazil and Uruguay, and the year before that, we performed across Europe,” said Beck. “It’s been quite a while since we’ve visited Asia, so we felt this would be a good opportunity to go back — and for the first time ever, we’ll be performing in Japan.”
Schlesinger and Furst Chavira, who have played for the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and other ensembles, described this as a “transformative experience”.
“This tour is an incredible experience,” Furst Chavira said. “It’s not just about performing — it’s a chance to travel, grow as musicians, and learn from some of the best artists in the world.”