BASIS Chandler student plays with national orchestra

This summer, Joshua Lee did some traveling rare for an American teen.

The Chandler teen, BASIS student and violinist was one of the few musicians chosen for an international orchestra training and performance program.

Lee served as “concertmaster” of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America, or NYO-USA, according to a description of the program's activities he emailed to the media.

Lee stated that to his family's knowledge, he's the first student from Arizona ever to serve in this role with NYO-USA. He was also the only selected member from Arizona for the 2026 orchestra.

NYO-USA is a summer youth orchestra, created and operated by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute. Each year, the program brings together standout high school musicians, ages 16 to 19, from across the country, through what Lee describes as a highly competitive application process.

The musicians take part in an intensive training residency in New York City, perform a debut concert at Carnegie Hall, and then represent the U.S. on an international concert tour as America’s music ambassadors.

This summer, after performing at Carnegie Hall in New York City on July 31, NYO-USA headed to Europe in August, performing at the Young Euro Classic festival in Berlin; the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; Snape Maltings in Aldeburgh, England and Usher Hall in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The orchestra worked with guest conductor Karina Canellakis, chief conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic, along with guest soloist Kirill Gerstein, an internationally performing pianist.

For Lee, this summer was his third consecutive with Carnegie Hall’s national youth orchestra programs, following “NYO2” in 2024 and 2025. He was concertmaster last year.

“It has been a meaningful journey of music, friendship, and cultural exchange,” he stated.

Some of Lee’s other notable musical achievements include being named a Winner with Distinction in the National YoungArts competition, earned by only about 1.3% of participants — believed to make him the first Arizona violinist to receive this award.

Lee has also been a four-time national finalist in the MTNA Student Competitions.

Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.