Firebird Youth Chinese Orchestra
Firebird Youth Chinese Orchestra (FYCO) is an artistic and educational organization in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is an orchestra composed of traditional Chinese instruments.
History
FYCO was founded in 2000 by Gordon Lee along with thirteen musicians. FYCO currently has three groups, beginning, junior, and senior, with about one hundred musicians playing traditional Chinese instruments. Most of them are American born Chinese youths ranging from nine to seventeen years of age.
In the past few years, FYCO's concerts have received praises from audiences, including arts organization observers. Arts Council Silicon Valley describes FYCO as a "local treasure."[1] The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) declared 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."[1]
Goals
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. 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-TV (CH9).
In 2004, FYCO was invited by the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China to visit three of China's top conservatories of music, and they performed joint concerts with each of the conservatories. FYCO is the first Chinese orchestra from Western countries to perform in China.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Firebird Youth Chinese Orchestra". Artopolis.
External links
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