Firebird Youth Chinese Orchestra
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Firebird Youth Chinese Orchestra (FYCO) is a unique artistic and educational organization in the San Francisco Bay Area. With only 13 young musicians, FYCO was founded in 2000 by Gordon Lee. Currently, FYCO has three groups with about 100 musicians playing traditional Chinese instruments. Most of them are American born Chinese youths ranging from 9 to 17 years of age.
In the past few years, FYCO’s concerts have received exceptional praise from its ethnically diverse audiences and distinctive arts organization observers. Arts Council Silicon Valley proclaimed FYCO as a “local treasure”. National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) praised FYCO as “one of the very few ensembles in the United States dedicated to educating young people, their families and communities through traditional Chinese music, and is carrying out its mission with great success.”
FYCO’s mission is to promote Chinese music as an integral part of Chinese-American culture by training young musicians to play traditional instruments, thereby strengthening the Chinese community and enhancing the cultural diversity and richness of American society. Because of its achievements, FYCO has been awarded grants by government arts agencies and foundations, and been featured on newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations, including CCTV (China Central Television), Hong Kong Phoenix TV, KTSF (CH26), KICU (CH36), and KQED (CH9).
Invited by the Ministry of Culture of People Republic of China, FYCO visited three top conservatories of music, and performed a joint concert with each of the conservatories in 2004. FYCO is the first Chinese orchestra from Western countries performing in China. Its cultural exchange activity bears unusual historical significances.
